They Set out to Save Worlds
by tjcbunni22
Summary: The Cullen Coven sets out to rescue their father from a dangerous darkness while the Pack seeks a world outside their tribe. A journey filled with new love, old friends and dangerous foes. . . But hope prevails!
1. A Toast to Life

**A TOAST TO LIFE**

Xx~xx~xX

"I think being a _Quileute _just ruined the whole rollercoaster experience for me"  
"Clearwater..." he warned, sighing heavily and rolling his eyes. She had been at this for the duration of their time in the slow moving in the queue for the ride. Grumbling, whining and complaining.

"I mean seriously...!"She pointed with unnecessary energy up at the ride and scowled at it as it twisted and curved at high velocity, causing its passengers to scream in terror. "Why are people so interested in this thing!?"  
"Lady, could you move?" a low irate voice breathed from behind them. They both ignored it and shuffled lethargically forward, sure to leave a good few steps in front of them so there was a marginal space between them and the two other members of their party "Could you move some more?" the man sighed.

"Why would anyone want to have goofy pictures taken of them?" Leah carried on, shaking her head in reproach.

"Lady, just get out of the line if you're scared..." the man behind them sneered "And let us, who paid good money for this, get to the damned ride!"  
"Shut up until after the ride" Charles nudged Leah out of the way gently and peered into the man's eyes, pierced into his mind. The man was lost in the dark emerald eyes, his heart stuttered minutely before returning to a slightly raised tempo and when Charles had returned Leah to her position in front of the man...

The man blinked in confusion. He knew he wanted to say something, _anything_ to the tall dark woman who had been complaining insistently during the thirty minutes they had been queued. He opened his mouth but then saw the man she was with; the handsome man with the peculiarly _violent_ green eyes, and he shut up. His mouth slammed shut and a sweat trickled down his neck as though the very thought of speaking was a strenuous activity.

"That was unnecessary, Charles" Leah sighed.

"You ask me what I want to do for my birthday, and when I decide that an amusement park would be fun..." Charles said morosely "You complain the whole way. You complained at the Tea Cups, you complained at the shooting range..."  
"I complain because this is what you _always_ want to do!" Leah threw her hands in the air and frowned at Charles "Because I knew this is where we were heading, to the _damned_ rollercoaster...!"  
"You puked on the ride we went to when I was ten..." Charles smiled "I told no one. If you puke now, I promise to only tell Jacob..."

Her eyes were wide and fearful on his face. "You... _wouldn't_"  
"He has been so serious of late..." Charles said airily, watching Leah from the corner of his eye. "Always discussing things with Atka; obsessed with other shape shifters. Maybe he'll obsess about the curious incident of a _wolf _puking because of high velocity when she's the fastest thing on the land"  
"If you tell Jacob... about..."  
"So you do confirm that you will be puking all over the place again..." Charles grinned "Oh fearsome she-wolf?"

"I will not be puking anywhere!" Leah snapped "Back then, things were different"  
"Different how?"  
"I had taken a blunt" Leah said matter of fact, nodding her head as though that was a righteous enough reason and would be held with honour in any court.

"You are a wolf..." Charles smirked and raised a thick eyebrow. "One little blunt will only levitate you what... a foot off the ground?"

"Did I say blunt? I meant a whole _garden_" Leah corrected herself. "I was exiting the stratosphere..."

"I don't know how Renesme will feel knowing she left you in the care of her _only_ child while you were high..."  
"Higher than a _motherfucker_" Leah grinned toothily "And drunk as hell but you _still _had the best birthday now, didn't you?"  
"Why did you need get high?"  
"Your mother and father" she answered. "Those two could make the Pope crave for a shot of _something_, the way they behaved back then..."

"Like that's changed much now!" Charles scoffed, folding his hands over his chest.

"Renesme is nice" came a little voice in front of Charles.

"Katherine, Renesme craps too" Leah pointed out.

"Actually..." Charles murmured and Leah blanched. "Once in a while"

"I don't know if the information on a hybrid's bowl movement shocks me more..." Leah gasped "Or that you count the number of times your mother poops"  
"You got high and put your imprint in danger" Charles breathed. "You don't get to judge anyone today"

"What's an imprint?" Katherine asked and the man in front of Charles growled low.

"Could you two shut it?" Seth hissed. "This is the worst..."  
"Double date?" Charles grinned, his sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight dangerously.

"There is no double date going on here" Seth said, looking behind Charles. "And Leah's thumbs up tells me she agrees fully"  
"She's just scared she'll puke on me again" Charles chuckled. "Aren't you Leah?"  
"If you keep on with the puking jokes, I might be forced to tell Eddie you're using your powers for evil"  
"What evil?" Charles asked innocently and Leah pointed behind her, at the silent man trying to nudge her forward after the section with two and a half Quileute's and a werewolf did not move forward and left a considerable gap in the queue.

"Dude?" Charles sighed at the man. "You're ruining my birthday?"

The man pointed at two children bickering at his sides, and shrugged, before pointing at his throat and shaking his head in wonder.

"Kids, could you give your old man a break?" Charles chided and the children looked up at him in wonder, before resuming their squabble. "You were rude to my imprint" Charles told the man. "You don't get to talk until after the ride"

"Do you have any understanding of _discretion_" Leah sighed. "You might as well wear a t-shirt that says, 'I'm a weird human hybrid vampire wolf thingy who has lost my compassion for other humans'"

"Humans and their humanity are both _overrated_" Charles began before frowning "Did you just call me a _thingy_ Lee? You ruined my birthday, Clearwater. Seth, your sister ruined my birthday"  
"I don't _fucking _care!" Seth hissed into Charles ear. "If you haven't noticed, I am trying to get to know my imprint... who still thinks I'm a jerk!"

"All you Clearwater's are jerks" Charles sulked, inching forward with the queue. "Leah refused to give me a kiss for my birthday, grumbled the duration of my special day at the amusement park and revealed that she used to get high and drunk in my presence..."

"I am finding it very difficult to sympathize!" Seth hissed at Charles before groaning, and helping Katherine into the ride (after shoving the attendee far right and growling at him).

"No" Leah said before Charles could speak, helping herself into the stall behind Seth and Katherine. She strapped her belt on and gripped the rail in front of her with firm conviction.

"I have never been drunk or done half the stuff you guys have" Charles grumbled, checking if Leah's belt was secure before strapping himself in.

"Venom" Leah stated and Charles rolled his eyes. "Can't get higher than that"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**RENESME CULLEN**

The lilting sound of birds, far away laughter of children and the lethargic pull of the ocean gave a heavenly retreat from a bruising war, a powerful enchantment from a dark memory and for some, a reprieve from a life of damning.

"You don't have to spend your time baking, Renesme..."  
Angela wouldn't understand the change that was in me. Angela wouldn't know the light that had pierced the darkness, the power that had overthrown my weaknesses. I was free. Finally, and truly...

I was free of my sins, of sins that were not my own... except of course, this one little thing. The thirst...

It reminded me explicitly of my first kills, my first murders and my first _taste._ I had to bake, I had to clean and I had to be busy... I had to _not_ be still, listening to heart beats, feeling the heat from their bodies, his body... smelling the salt of sweat, the sweetness of blood, the elixir in _his_ veins, yearning for scorching heat to sear my tongue, wishing to listen to the that drumming instrument playing a tune of divinity, hating that I remembered the sweet power I had stolen from so many men, from the laboratory.

Every kill, every murder, all that blood...

It reminded me of my first taste, and it did no justice to the potency of Jacob Black's blood.

"Renesme!" Angela yelled.

I jumped, knocking back into the kitchen table and breaking it in the process. The cupcakes I had been icing went into the air and I watched them as they hit the ceiling in slow motion and thundered right back down to the floor.

"Shit" I breathed. I didn't look at Angela; my heart was fluttering wildly in my chest, my vision blaring, her heart was raised too and with it, my thirst roared and my nostrils flared. I was grateful for the burning smell coming out of the oven, muting her adrenaline laced blood.

"What has gotten into you?!" Angela demanded, walking over to me. She took the empty tray from my hands-tugging hard-and placed it on the chair. She surveyed the broken table, it leaned awkwardly to the left, were its leg had come off.

"Renesme, why are you so distracted?" she asked softly, touching my arm. My eyes snapped to her hand, glared at the contact and yearned for the warmth pulsating from her skin.

"What's going on?" Jacob swaggered in, frowning. He was sure not to look at me, staring at the ruined cupcakes on the floor instead. "Five second rule but if you are a wolf it really is five hours, so ladies... just pick them up so we can get to the meeting sometime in this century?"

"Yes" I rasped, removing the apron hastily, throwing it on the broken table. "Angela, the meeting..."

"The muffins are still burning" Angela said dryly, looking at me suspiciously. I switched the oven off, deciding to open it much later when the supernatural beings had gone to the beach to organise Charles surprise party... they would hate to have their noses aggravated.

"Could you take it easy, you haven't slept since..."Angela whispered.

She droned out, frowning "I haven't seen you sleep at all since the break out?"  
"I can function" I snapped.

"Then what are you doing to yourself...?" she began but I opted to run from her, zooming to the other side of the dining room that was operating as our 'board room', or as Katherine had put it 'bored room'. She frowned at me by the door, allowing Embry to lead her in and sat down, still throwing me suspicious glances.

The room felt like a sauna with all the wolves. I sat by the window sill, opening the window wide and inhaling the outside.

"I have contacted Dominic" Jacob announced. He sat at the head of the dining table, his large hands clasped in front of him. "He has arrived in Malwood and he will relay the details of The Company and God's People to his elders, and we will see if they are willing to assist us in any way possible"

"Was our biggest concern not finding a place to roost before we mobilise to England?" Embry asked.

"Why can't the Cullens make their way to Malwood?" Angela asked. "England seems so... small... for all of you"

"Malwood is a community of werewolves" Embry said "We would be putting the Cullens at such a risk"  
"Embry is right" Jacob said slowly "And I think our cause would be better heard without vampires. Do not forget that the reasons why other supernatural beings hide, Angela, is because vampires attempt to wipe them out"

"My family will not be sitting pretty in England" I murmured, looking out to the little garden. I knew they would be watching me, Maria too. "I believe they are considering involving the Volturi"

"Involving the Volturi?" Angela scoffed "Were the Volturi not _already_ involvedas it is?"  
"Your suspicions are warranted, the Volturi are exceptionally undependable if their help will result in their defences becoming susceptible to threats" I spoke slowly "But understand... the humans are not operating alone and as much as Aro may _think_ he had them fooled, it is the other way around. Vampires, werewolves... and any other supernatural creatures Jacob thinks may be in hiding..."

"Don't start with me" Jacob warned.

I ignored it fluidly, looking at the table filled with shape shifters "We are all at risk. The level of organisation, weaponry and unwavering devotion that Lorraine has in her... imagine it spread out amongst a _thousand_ humans. We will be wiped out. It's as simple as that"

"We... need... the Volturi?" Jacob tried the words. I could see him in my peripheral frowning, as though the notion of it was causing him to want to hurl. It probably was.

"We need the Volturi" I said and then clarified. "Of course, if your mission to help supernatural beings is _including_ vampires?"

"I guess..." he said in a hollow tone. "We need to find out more if there are more of you?" he waved his hand at me, mildly petulant.

"Imagine how many 'Maria's' could be littered all over the world?" I whispered "Dangerous. Isolated. Entirely vulnerable to this... _extraction _process The Company coordinates? Joham may be the only known vampire to father half vampires..."  
"Edward" Collin said airily.

"Joham?" Maria asked. "Is that my biological...father?"  
"Your biological grandfather" I said.

"It's up to us, isn't it... to find other part vampires?" Maria asked. She was unusual, she was human, she was full of empathy-she was everything I wished I could have been in my youth. I tried to console myself to the fact that she had been allowed to grow up, to have a human family, to have human years...

"It is up to you, Maria" Jacob answered and I watched as Maria's eyes widened, her full lips parting slightly. When Jacob looked at her and smiled-no doubt approving her naive heroicness-her heart beat picked up pace just the slightest bit. I wandered if her palms were sweaty...

I wanted to flip her hand over, feel the skin there... She returned her gaze to me and I smoothed over my frown.

"It's not as easy as Jacob so immaturely makes it out" I smiled.

"I think if you find other half breeds..." Embry stopped talking abruptly as Maria let out a slew of fervent coughs.

"Half vampires" she said "Or bi-species, please"

Both Embry and Jacob looked at her in disbelief... this would be the moment they burst out laughing at Mother Teresa in all her _natural _seventeen years of age-that showed mentally, physically but _not_ emotionally (oh, she was centuries ahead in the emotion department).

"I am _so_ sorry" Jacob didn't laugh and Embry continued to look at her with wide eyes, shame spreading over his features. "That would be like how the leech... I mean _vampires_, call us dogs" he pointed at himself and then at Embry. "Bi-species... yes"

"But you aren't bi-species" Embry said "You have what, barely there vampire genes in you?"  
"It doesn't make her any less vulnerable to the humans" I said slowly, now watching Maria with that annoying green tinge in my heart "She is probably fertile and both the humans and Joham have a fascination with genetics"  
"I thought the only male was Nahuel?" Jacob asked.

"That we know off" I said slowly and then, deliberately to Maria I whispered "Your grandfather has no aversions to incest... I should warn you" 

She had turned into a saint in an oversized sweater and dirty sneakers that could give birth to more saints, in the blink of an eye. I could see them looking at her, in wonder. She was young, truly and naturally young and sacrificing her life for this... for out of everyone, she would be most likely to merge in with society freely. She had no baggage save for her war wounds.

"Do you want something to eat Maria?" I smiled at her "I made cinnamon buns..."

"You mean you _burnt_ cinnamon buns" Jacob grumbled before saying wistfully "Esme never burnt them..."  
"I am not Esme so be grateful for what I can do!" the windows shook, the wolves cringed back and as I made eye contact with him and his eyes widened, his slight fear shocked my own anger into retreat. I looked away quickly, searching for the warm smile once more.

"I am sure they are like your grandmothers" Maria smiled nervously and I made an effort to ignore Jacob's 'if cinnamon buns were coal'. "I am... tired" Maria sighed.  
"Yes, what with your being human and all" I smiled "Angela, are you..."  
"I am not tired and yet still _intolerably_ human, Renesme" she snapped.

Maria followed me then, waving shortly to everyone before stumbling so perfectly human over the carpet. I caught her easily "Careful" I said "No injured soldiers"  
"Thanks, Renesme" she smiled "I just don't have the stamina for their never ending strategizing and all the security protocols Leah and Seth have put over everyone..."  
"Imprinters" I explained "They tend to fuss over all of that when their imprints are in the vicinity"  
"Imprinters?"

"Oh, poor daisy..." I gave her a quick side hug, careful not to shatter her ribcage "There is so much you don't know"

"Yeah..." she chuckled nervously, sitting on the stool while I took the cinnamon buns out of the oven. They were not badly burnt, unfortunately. I had a feeling she would have eaten them regardless, had they been charred to oblivion "Everyone here is... bonded. Like, a lifetime of this..." she waved her hand in the air "I could never have imagined there could be such a world"  
"You were perfectly sheltered" I told her "I _envy_ you"  
"You envy me?" she scoffed "I envy you! Imagine growing up in a house with humans, Renesme, and thinking you _were_ human when you could feel it in your bones that you were something other..."  
"But you are human" I explained to her "Perfectly human, Maria"

"No... I am not" she whispered, pinching a piece off from the cinnamon bun and plopping it in her mouth indelicately "Rene..." I hated that I liked the new nickname "...even before I was abducted, I knew there was something wrong with me"  
"Why does it have to be something wrong?" I asked her "It makes you superior to humans... even if it's by a _miserable_ quarter. At least, you could put up a bit of a fight before you were killed by a vampire?"  
She blinked at me, a sliver of terror flashing over her eyes.

"You are a little scary" she said.

"I am a lot vampire" I smiled. "Do you want some tea with that?"

She looked behind her, to the boisterous sound of the shape shifters welcoming the birthday boy from his mundane excursion before sighing a little "Yeah, tea would be good"  
"You miss your home?" I guessed.

"You see, that's where you have it lucky" she murmured, eating more of the cinnamon bun "You get to keep your family. I get to lose mine for this"

"Those humans were not your family" I told her.

"As far as I care, they are..."  
"Aren't you the least bit curious on whom it is that you belong to?"  
"I belong to no one right now, and that's just fine by me"

"Spoken like a teenager" I smiled.

"I am a teenager" she smiled back. "Thanks" she took the cup I had placed out, and balanced it carefully as she picked up her cinnamon bun "I'm going to call it a day"  
"Going to bed so early?" I asked her. "It's five?"

"Just a nap but honestly..." she whispered "I hate this. I hate it all, and I am trying to deal and be mature about it, I mean that's how my father would have handled things... but all I wake up and want to do is go to school and hang out with my friends... not save the world"

She paused and a tear slid down her brown cheek.

"Does that make me selfish?" she asked softly.

"It makes you human" I smiled and it hurt inside, because I had been her once I realised "It makes you... normal"

"Goodnight, Renesme"  
"Don't you mean good evening?" I smiled back. "The night is only just beginning"

Xx~xx~xX

"What is it with you and house chores?" she complained, stuffing herself with the salvaged buns and scones, while sipping her wine endlessly.

"It's just something I learnt from Esme" I murmured "It's therapeutic"  
"Your grandmother was a vampire" Angela said.

"My grandmother was a caring and patient woman" I whispered "That is how she did it. Not because she had limitless energy and no need for sleep. She cared that everyone was taken care off... she took care of Jacob, when I left"  
"When you left?" Angela asked, the bun hovering expectantly over her open mouth.

"Back then" I whispered, sipping the wine before swirling it gently in the glass. The satin colour stained the bulb of the wine glass exquisitely and my throat burnt. "I broke him into a thousand pieces" I took another sip and this time my throat swore at me, cussed me out for denying it the genuine wine. I looked at Angela and watched as the precious vein by her neck throbbed and retreated succinctly before erupting again, and again...

I looked away and glared at the calm outside, the rose bush Leah and Charles had planted earlier on in the day partially hidden in the shadow of a tree "He would have starved himself if it were not for Esme and Rosalie"

"Rosalie?" Angela asked.

"You haven't met her... formally" I said.

"I met her in high school" Angela had finished her wine and waved the glass at me impatiently. I moved humanly slow towards her, watching her in fascination. She had been intent on eating herself into her grave since we escaped, as well as her new fondness for ciders and wine.

"How was she then?"

"Beautiful... scary" Angela said raising her hand for me to stop pouring the wine when her glass was a quarter full.

"Rose, the eternal beauty" I raised my own glass in a toast "My _true_ mother"

"You're tipsy" Angela chuckled, shaking her head.  
"You are drunk"  
"I function"  
"It bothers me that you say that so proudly" I sighed.

"It bothers me how nice you are to Maria when you and I both know you can't stand her" Angela laughed. I was glad we were alone; the whole house-except Maria-had gone to the beach to prepare the bonfire and a little party for Charles.

She continued laughing until tears were in her eyes. She was laughing at me, her face red and flushed... such a waste... of blood, in the hilarity of my insecurities...

The wine glass smashed in my hand, the red liquid spilling over my fingers, spraying over the counter and dripping to the floor through my clenched fist. She stopped then, looking at me in puzzlement but long gone was Angela Weber's fear of me. She knew I would never hurt her; not because my father had grown attached to her...

But it was I, instead, that found her compelling. She compelled all she touched, with her raw kindness and lack of consideration in reigning in her wayward disposition. It was as though the moment she was free from Isabella, she had begun to live fully and ripened in her old age of forty something...

"Wipe it before it stains then" was all Angela Weber had to say of my exhibition, taking her glass of wine with her and swaying out of the kitchen in the direction of the patio "One must learn to handle a bit of competition..."

"Competition for what?" I scoffed, folding my arms over my chest and glaring at the shards. I caught my reflection in them; paler than I should be in the sunshine of our new location, eyes wide and deadly dark. What could I want from Jacob, which he hadn't given already?

_A taste..._

Xx~xx~xX

The fire had only just begun to blaze. It was an orange ruby in the middle of the sand, its flames guttering upwards violently. Around it, the men sat chatting animatedly.

She didn't really want to go there, she didn't really want to be seen, she didn't really want to be left out either as much as she thought that she could return, one day, back to her high school and back to her simple life as a teenager.

"You can sit by me" I told her.

"It's not that I am shy..." Maria tried to explain although her heart clutched in her chest when the wolves gave her too much attention. Angela had told her not to be too concerned about that; they were forever stuck as teenagers and had very little female interaction save for Leah (who wasn't an easy target for teasing) and I... well, they had written me into the legends as the _witch, _hadn't they? They were excited to have someone pretty to talk to, was how Angela had put it. That may have been true...

"They are perpetually horny and will follow a female turtle into the depths of the ocean" was how I had put it "Nothing to get yourself all worked up about, Maria"

"I am not shy..." Maria clarified yet again "I just... don't like attention"

"Everyone wants a little bit of attention?" I smiled. I was leading Maria and Angela to the beach, the twilight had abated, the darkness had swallowed up the wood area and the surrounding perimeter of the little beach house.

"I have a boyfriend" Maria said primly, pursing her lips and glaring at Collin's not so subtle wink at her. She raised the grape juice indicatively, a little reminder that she was not going to be joining their planned night of drunkenness. She saw his expression darken and sighed when he resumed his conversation with the rest of his pack mates.

"Well... he isn't here to give you attention, now is he?" I teased.

"I wouldn't take romantic advice from her" a very drunk Angela laughed. "Although, it is true that a little bit of attention can do wonders for one's self confidence"

"I love him" Maria stated but something in her tone sounded two shades bitter.

"Love my dear..." I scowled at Jacob and Atka from far off "Is overrated. When you return to him and tell him that you are not human, were do you think your love will be then?"  
"I _am_ human"

"Humanish" Angela raised her finger in correction.

"You are undying" I said sternly "Forget about your human love. It is brief, fickle and infantile. It will stunt your immortal growth; it will offer you no protection from this world and provide nothing but disappointment"

"Do you have a mate?" Maria asked me. I released her hand then, as we had arrived by the bonfire and walked ahead, before throwing an irate "Your _father_" at her.

"She can be rather cruel" Maria whispered to Angela, still refusing to acknowledge that her audio world had changed and I could hear her clearly.

"It's only because she loves intensely" Angela laughed, squeezing Maria briefly. "It's a difficult love to earn... but it's worth it in the end. She's a special girl, like you, even if you both don't know it"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

"I do miss Dominic and Annabelle" Collin sighed "They added..."  
"Numbers" Bradley scoffed. "Dude, Dominic was hard work and Annabelle had two expressions; constipated and death..."

"Dominic was only hard work once a month!" Katherine cried, leaning away from Seth. "And Annabelle... er, she... had that humour of hers?"

"A constipated dead cynic" Bradley said dryly "What's not to miss? And if Dominic wasn't a werewolf... he had those large eyes of his and that _curious _affliction..."

"What curious affliction...?" Katherine demanded, now clambering over Seth to get closer to Collin and Bradley's teasing.

"You know..." Bradley pointed at his own eyes indicatively and then not so subtlety, he pointed opposite them, behind the large fire at Leah. "His attachment to involved women"

"I suggest you speak a little nicer about the Eriksons" Seth hissed.

"Why?" Collin and Bradley challenged in unison, mischief glinting in their eyes. "Aren't you the slightest bit concerned that he will involve himself with another attached woman? Or maybe it will be Annabelle-those Erikson's may just like swimming in clear waters"

"A little respect for the Eriksons is in order because that's where we are heading before we go to England" Jacob announced. "Atka and I spoke with Dominic..."  
"I think Jake replaced you" Bradley snorted at Seth.

"Idiot, Atka is an Alpha of the Polar Bears" Seth rolled his eyes "He is representing his tribe in this, dumb ass"  
"Dumb ass is the guy who bought grape juice instead of champagne for the party" Collin hissed at Seth.

"I had to think about Katherine in this!" Seth hissed.

"I was hoping to get Maria a little tipsy for the event but she saw the damned grape juice..." Collin grumbled "Still a major cock blocker, eh Clearwater?"  
"When did I cock block you?" Seth asked, covering Katherine's ears with his hands. She struggled to free her head of his large hands and settled herself to sulking at the fire.

"You used to get laid like a duvet?" Bradley sneered "With _everyone..._ including that Katie, that cute waitress in Forks? I liked her...?"  
"Quileutes and grudges!" Seth heaved, releasing Katherine and shaking his head "Dude that was last _lifetime_!"

"I am only forty" Bradley said soberly, his perfectly twenty year old face dead serious "My life time hasn't passed yet... so yes, it does feel like yesterday"  
"...Malwood is well organised" Jacob was giving a speech that the left side of the bonfire cared little for "We will be safe, Dominic swore to it. Although our stay will not be welcome..."  
"When has our stay ever been welcome" Leah scoffed "Hopefully this time Embry wont sleep with anyone's sister..."  
"Er..." Embry avoided Atka's glare and busied himself with Angela-who was giving a detailed account of Isabella's obsession with Edward, until the point that the two had become a couple (Renesme was sitting at the edge of that group, listening intently with a sleepy Maria at her side, gazing at everyone in wonder).

"Okay, you know what... I could give you an 'Elder Speech'..." Jacob began and a series of 'Please Don'ts' erupted around the fire "But I can't, it reminds me of Billy..." a series of 'I feel bad now' rumbled out "And... really, we rescued _vampires_ from a _human_ laboratory? I think that's all the speech that is needed. We are legendary!" Jacob raised his bottle of whiskey "Happy Birthday Charles... may there be many..."  
"Oh, there will be so many that the kid is going to wish for a _deathday_" Embry laughed.

Jacob grinned at his son, his friend "To an eternity of joy, Charles Edward Black"

Xx~xx~xX

"Hey!" he called out to her. She was skipping over the sand easily, a bottle of wine in her hand and her hair dark and wild around her face. He thought she was dancing, she thought she flying; to him, they had never been more on equal ground.

"Leah... you'll get yourself swept by the ocean" he rushed to her, picking her up in his arms and twirling her in the air. She giggled childishly as he planted kisses all around her face. They were far from the others, from their large family. It was like before, when they would travel through states just the two of them...

Except, it wasn't like before. They were on equal ground, as high as they were; maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the weed, maybe it was the fact that he had rid his system of venom and with her in his sights and life, he could see so clearly.

"Ahhh!" she squealed as he spun her supernaturally fast. "Throw me in, then!" she cried.

"What?"

"Throw me in the sea!" she demanded "Imagine were I will land... maybe in Atlantis!"

"You'll drown" he whispered, slowing his spinning. Her limbs lowered, her hands going around his neck. He propped her up in his arms, her legs automatically winding around his waist. "I can't lose you, Leah" he breathed, looking at her.

Her eyes were large and free, the light pulsing in them, through them.

"You won't" she said this with such natural ease that he had no grounds to refute her. She believed it, and it felt petty for him to deny it when she was so resolute.

"You could be taken from me" he said. Her hands were in his hair, combing and tugging lightly. He hadn't let her go; he hadn't let her feet touch the ground.

"Taken?" she giggled lightly, shaking her head "By whom?"

"Anyone" he said shyly "Any... thing?"

"You are my haven, Charles" she told him.

"You are my heaven" he told her gently, forcing her to come closer to him. He held her thigh, and she was aware of this through the haze of bliss, he used his other hand to push her hair away and see into her eyes much easier.

Green bore into her brown, through her fear and saw right into her soul. Something in her pulsed, it felt foreign and it scared her and then so suddenly, she remembered it. Lust. Want. Yearning.

"I can't..." she was about to say more and his crooked grin silenced her.

"We wouldn't do _that _while we were high, Ms Clearwater" he chuckled, his voice lowered and enchanting. "I would have to give you the world, all of them... to earn you. But for now, could I get that kiss?"

She giggled again and shook her head left and right, pouting "No"

"I have never seen you like this" he smiled.

"I have never been... like this" she said in wonder.

"You don't want with that kiss?"  
"No"

"Liar"  
"I don't want with my lips..." she said sultrily and his eyes darted automatically to her full mouth.

He kissed her quickly, lightly and the air knocked out of her. She leaned in to kiss him fully, so suddenly ravenous and he leaned back from her.

"I don't want with _my _lips" he told her cheekily.

"I don't give a damn!" she hissed, tugging his hair violently and crashing her mouth to his, winding her legs tighter around his waist and rocking her body forward. She gripped his hair mercilessly, she kissed him with undying passion and they tasted sweet nectar in each other.

"Ah...!" he tried to tug her away, feeling their hold on reality slipping dangerous territories that he knew they were not ready for but she was adamant, stubborn and strangely immature. She refused his restrictions, when he lowered her to the ground she stalked him dangerously and he backed away anxiously.

"I... want... you!" she breathed, she never remembered being this famished for warmth and love.

"Want me when you're sober" he chuckled, catching her in his arms and placing a deliberate kiss on her forehead , using more strength to keep her from causing him to throw his resolve to the ocean and just... be a _silly_ teenage boy, drunk out of his mind, and happily alone with the woman of his dreams.

She meant too much, she was everything and this, would not satisfy that sacredness at all.

"Charles?" she breathed, but he was gone. The only tell of his departure came from the sea, were a disturbance had occurred. She looked out to the darkness, catching his pale form in the waters and thought to swim to him and just throw all her fears, doubts and stupid morals away.

But the cold air hit her face and she realised that she had _just_ kissed him, she had wanted him; she had felt him want her to. He waved at her and she was sure she could see the smile on his face "See you at the house, Ms Clearwater" his lips moved.

She smiled, suddenly incredibly shy and waved at him. She walked back to the house, and sat silently in a corner with another bottle of wine... and a silly grin on her lips.

Xx~xx~xX

X

x

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

**Welcome, to They Set Out to Save Worlds!**

**What to look forward to? Well, once again our heroes have split into two groups; so there will be two factions playing out in the story until they are united. Romance wise, yesssss! Plenty of it, I predict.**

**Things will be a little heated for a bit while everyone sets out to save the world... hehe,**

**See you soon.**

**XX**

**TJ**

**P.S Don't forget to review!**


	2. Methods of Defence

**METHODS OF DEFENCE**

Xx~xx~xX

The rain fell lazily through the leaves. Its drops pooled into the cocooned centre of the larger flowers, little ponds of clearness in the dips of each leaf. He stopped his hacking of the tree, closing his eyes and looking up to the green heavens. The rain misted through the trees and fell gently on his face, cool moisture on his eyelids. He sighed into the clear air, smiling slightly.

"I don't ever want to go back to the city" John whispered.

His brother looked at him from beneath a tree, deep in its shadows. His eyes were narrowed, his lips too; the axe held firmly in hand, his fingers tensing and releasing sporadically.

"I can't believe I didn't realise how lucky we are" John whispered, his eyes still closed. He was in heaven; he was far from hell; far from the memories of the city, the pollution and the transgressions. His brother watched him silently; he hadn't moved nor removed his eyes from John. His thoughts hidden in the shade of the tree, hidden in the shadows of his face.

"We are lucky, Peter!" John cried, opening his eyes and staring lovingly at the ceiling of light and emerald. He twirled in a circle, his arms extended outwards and a lax smile on his lips. "There is no wealth in any city or above, that is greater than this... this, which we are given by God!"

"I wouldn't know" Peter said. His voice cut through the falling rain effortlessly. "You never did share that wealth with us, dear brother?"  
"Huh?" he dropped his arms and searched for his brother in the trees and shade, and saw him standing motionless in the shadows right by the tree he had cut down. "Peter... trust me, it was not wonderful"  
"That wasn't what you said in the first year of your disappearance" Peter's voice was calm, levelled. He strapped his axe to his back, tying the rope securely before hefting the dead wet tree up. "We have to go back" he told his brother stiffly. "We have travelled far enough, wouldn't you say? This rain is calm now but if we let it... it will wash us away"

John's bliss drowned in the showers then, the childlike smile long gone and he strapped his own axe to his back, tying the rope too tightly and inexperienced before groaning as he picked the tree up, hefting it to his shoulders.

"I am sorry I left you" John told his brother, following Peter's footsteps diligently through the undergrowth. He didn't trust his own feet, they were wayward and would sooner trample a poisonous snake if he gave them liberty.

"I am sorry too" Peter breathed, keeping a relentless pace back to their home and mother, to their little village in the feral South American jungle; so far from civilisation and lost in the darkness. Their neighbours were wild and only recently averse to cannibalism, their livestock susceptible to the beasts of the jungle. This wasn't heaven, not to Peter "I am sorry you didn't take me, brother"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

Mrs Downey had been a regular at the coffee shop for a _very_ long time, years that spanned well over a decade and events that were both bitter and sweet. She had lived in the town, moved to New York as a young woman, and moved back when the years of her life had begun to dwindle into emptiness.

She had no children, she had had a husband (she had married a man who had loved her dearly since childhood, the moment she had arrived back into her hometown from New York) and she had had a lovely mane of auburn hair once.

It was this that had had made her pause her slow sipping of her tea, ignoring the crossword in her magazine as her heart clutched in her chest. All she could see was the hair, the _lovely_ auburn hair that reminded her so painfully of the youth she had squandered in New York.

The girl turned left gracefully, her hair spanning with the movement. It had curls, unlike Mrs Downey's long lost mane and it shimmered radiantly in the fluorescent light. The girl was tall, beautiful and miserable looking. She held a coffee cup in her hands, the steam smoking upwards from the hot liquid, and covering half her face in an ethereal haze.

From behind her, a tall man walked in. He was terrifying, roguish and dark. Two curtains of long black hair framed his face and beneath his shirt, muscles rolled and uncoiled. He whispered to the girl and her expression intensified into unhappiness, the cup seemed to strain against her grip.

"Oh my!" Mrs Downey breathed, placing her pen and cup down and closing her magazine. She removed her hat, ran her fingers through her mid length greying hair as she stared in envy at the metallic silk of the girl. "Wondrous" she breathed. She called the waitress, a new girl that she didn't care for much except the curious clumsiness the girl possessed.

"Katherine!" Mrs Downey called. The girl jumped lightly, her tray shaking minutely but today, nothing fell from it. Katherine turned around slowly, holding the tray out as though it were a bomb and moved slowly to Mrs Downey's table "Katherine dear... do you know who those people are?"

"Them?" Katherine looked back at the two people in question, who were having a vicious whispered feud in the bakery line. "That's my sister... and that's Jacob"

"Your sister?" Mrs Downey raised her tea cup to her lips, sipping slowly while watching Katherine from above the rim of her spectacles. She put the cup back down slowly, taking her magazine and resumed her crossword with exaggerated nonchalance "You look nothing alike dear"  
"She got all the beauty" Katherine laughed nervously. "Do you need anything, Mrs Downey?"  
"Hmm" Mrs Downey sighed "No, I suppose I don't"

She watched Katherine walk away, she watched Katherine say something to the two tensed youngsters, and she met the beautiful girl's eyes briefly and knew that Katherine had told them of her inquisitiveness. The man walked out, a fluidity that defied his massive presence and the girl... walked over to Mrs Downey's table slowly.

She reached the table, placing a long finger on the tip of the chair opposite Mrs Downey. Mrs Downey ignored the girl, immersing her body into the crossword while her mind tensed with anticipation.

"Good afternoon" the girl said. "Are you Mrs Downey?"  
She looked up slowly, readjusting her glasses before giving the girl a little smile "I am"  
"Downey was your late husband's last name?" the girl asked.

"Now how would you know that?" Mrs Downey laughed.

"I did a bit of ballet in my youth" the girl pulled the chair out and sat down, placing her coffee on the table slowly. It was still full, but the steam had long abated. "I saw that you taught ballet at the school in Chemsworth? Your picture is there... with your name"

"For a brief time I had been Ms Diane Lorde" Mrs Downey said proudly "But it lasted a month before I was married"

There was no trace of bitterness in her tone, although the pride had vanished with the latter statement.

"Had your whole family lived here?" she asked, smiling. It was a small smile, a sad one. Her dark eyes had shadows of anxiety dancing in them.

"Mostly..." Diane said. "They had come from Chicago. Well, my grandfather at any rate. His family were wiped out by illness there, long back"

"My name is Rene" the girl reached out her hand and Diane took it willingly, shaking it once. "My family has roots in Chicago too. You see my interest? A fellow Ballerina with a similar life as my own?"  
"I doubt you had the life I had" Diane laughed "When I was your age... I had been talented and wild. Lost in a big city, enchanted by the company I worked for and driven to misery by the life I had once wanted so badly" Diane finished softly. "Yes, I doubt you have the life I had"

"Possibly" Rene smiled before turning stiffly, her eyes glued to the entrance. Diane followed her gaze and watched, after a second, as the burly dark man walked in again. He scowled at the front till where Rene wasn't there, his eyes glazing over the whole shop before they fell upon her finally. His scowl etched further, he was terrifying.

"Is he your boyfriend, Rene?" Diane asked.

"No" Rene said frigidly, touching her coffee cup before frowning at it. "My coffee has gone cold"

"Katherine, dear...!" Diane called and Katherine walked brusquely to the table. "Do you mind bringing Rene a fresh cup of coffee?"  
"Yes...sure" Katherine stammered before lowering her head to Rene's ear and whispering something rapidly. Of course, Ms Downey wouldn't hear it no matter how intently she had been listening in. Rene's expression was controlled even after Katherine had left their table and soon, the big man had arrived.

He pulled the chair out, and sat down with the same fluidity that defied his expansive presence. "Hello" he greeted Diane. She smiled tersely at him, already presumptuous of his relationship with Rene (whom she had grown to like incredibly, in the few minutes they had been talking).

"This is Jacob" Rene introduced. "He thinks it's a bad thing for me to talk to you"

"Now why would that be a bad thing?" Diane laughed. "I am hardly harmful to anyone..."

"The harm won't come from you" Jacob said stiffly, before exiting from their table just as quickly as he had arrived "_Rene_... we will discuss this at home"  
"Yes, Alpha..." Rene said with mastered austerity, glaring at Jacob as he left the coffee shop.

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

"Are you going to pretend it didn't happen?" Charles asked. He wasn't upset or disappointed; he had expected this from Leah. She hated things that she wasn't in control of... even if she had been the one to reach for more.

But there was alcohol to blame, the word imprint to throw around and her own fear to clutch onto; as long as she had those things, she would put up a fight, no matter how incongruous her denial was.

"No" Leah frowned, cocking the gun and aiming it in front of her. She squinted her eyes, droning out Charles soft chuckle before firing. The bang from the weapon hurt both their ears, but hers were currently protected (not adequately), and they cringed from the sound. Charles face had turned red and eyes watered slightly.

"Let me have a go" he reached his hand out for the gun and she moved it to her left hand, away from him. "Let me have a go!" he insisted.

"You are all about the katana, have you forgotten?" Leah frowned, placing the gun on the table before taking out another larger piece of weaponry, dismantling it and cleaning it. He watched her silently, amused by her new methods of defence.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked her.

"Yeah" she didn't look at him "Leave..."

"So you can shoot?"  
"Yeah"

"So you can shoot the _target_, you mean" he laughed. "That bullet went off course" he pointed ahead. She wouldn't see as far as he could but she was certain she had hit what would have been a vital organ. Not by _perfection_ as he would have done it, but if the target man were human, he would have dropped to the ground and bled to death.

"Let me show you?" he reached his hand out.

"No" she tried not to pout.

"Fine" he sighed before leaning down, and whispering in her ear "If you don't want me to show you how straight I can shoot, that is just fine but it's a goddamn shame too..."

She shuddered, he kissed her cheek and then left her alone at the shooting range, frazzled and unfocused. He knew she could take care of herself just fine... for now, but soon she would need him and he would be ready.

He was ready.

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

The lands were unattended to. A once manicured expanse of lawn grew wild and untamed, weeds choking the beauty out of it, trees thick with branches that hung precariously low, shrubbery untamed and various kinds of vegetation spreading out audaciously and with little respect to Carlisle Cullen's once grand estate.

There had been feral cats living in the house; a house that had survived the departure of its caretaker, the lack of attendance of its utility bills and the very weather, but with the arrival of pale human-like beings, the cats had decided to retreat into the garage. Not too far, as they were not nearly _that_ afraid to surrender a home that had passed through their generations over the past years, but with enough understanding that distance was needed if they were to have any more generations at all...

Emmett Cullen had taken it upon himself to feed them. It was a strange thing to most, but his wife knew that her husband had a naturally caring soul (albeit a ferocious one at that). It was his way of coping; the death of his mother, the abandonment of his father.

They were unwilling to be seen by him for those first few days of his efforts; the tuna was neither that appealing nor that plentiful that they would surrender the shadows and rafters to come near him.

But now, they ate by his feet.

"Nice kitty" he whispered, his cold fingers touching the head of one white cat carefully. He was bad at it, even though he had mastered most of his tactile capabilities but now, with the emotional fragments drifting in and out of his dead heart...

"Shit" its head bobbed into the milk abruptly. It yelped in shock, unharmed save for a face covered in white liquid. It gave him one righteously offended look before skipping back, not too far from him and cleaning itself up.

"Sorry" he sighed. "I am... sorry"

It continued to lick its paws, before running that paw over its face, ignoring him. He sighed. It seemed that was happening a lot; his being ignored. He was a soldier in this, always... the foot soldier. He touched his face, were a series of feint lines ran. He could feel the raise of each one, the depth of each etch.

He had once been unmarked. He had once been bored of peace, sick to his stomach of reining his strength in; wanting violence, wanting war and battle. He would give so much to just sit in a classroom, playing footsey with Rose and throwing grapes across a table at Edward's melancholic head.

"What are you doing in here?" Rose walked in slowly. The cats didn't retreat in the shadows, simply watching her carefully; it was her, after all, that had shown him how to win them over. They were not as fickle as humans and dogs, always watching and anticipating the worst from each other and other beings.

"Just..." he didn't have an answer "The cats" he said lamely.

She sat down by his side and touched the puddle of milk on the ground; she dug into it, the white mingling with the dirt until there was a muddy ridge. When she retracted her finger, its tip was stained with greyish brown, under her long nail filth sat comfortably.

"Snowy is a messy eater" Emmett lied, pointing at the white cat. As if it heard him, it raised its head and meowed unambiguously, before resuming its cleaning.

"Edward and Bella are at it again?" Emmett asked, taking his wife's hand and reaching over for a thin piece of wire. He turned her hand over, rubbing his finger and thumb gently over her dirtied finger and smudging the dirt off. He turned her hand over again, and carefully began to clean the dirt from under her nail with the wire.

"No and yes" Rosalie sighed. She watched him in silence, remembering a man who had never shown her this much... consideration. Emmett thought she was beauty, he thought she was kindness and love; he worshipped her... but she was _not_ his goddess. She was his equal. They were equals, and they cared for each other as that. He wasn't looking for anything from her; not a mate to show off, not a woman to simply care for his needs, not a device to keep him entertained and satiated... he had wanted her. He had cared for her, even when for a moment; she had thought his advances were _annoying..._

He had fought against her, to be with her.

She couldn't lose him in this wretched variance of the world, and maybe in this she understood Isabella. You remember, always, the ones who were kind to you. Those who cared for you sincerely.

"Isabella has the difficult task of rescuing a marriage that was long signed dead and gone" Rosalie sighed. "And Edward... well, he swapped his misery for anger so merrily. He says Carlisle chose to stay. He says our father died with Esme... and is now a true vampire. He says we should press forward and seek a counsel with Aro"

She paused, taking in a slow breath "He thinks Aro will find interest in Carlisle finally succumbing to vampirism, and with thus be willing to search for him"

"I know" Emmett sighed, kissing Rosalie's dainty finger before sucking it, cleaning it more thoroughly. "But what I don't get is why we can't just... disappear?"  
"They won't stop" Rosalie stated. "We will never be safe, constantly hiding and living like this..." she looked around them indicatively; at the ceiling with its aligned rows of rafters, the cats' eyes glowing down at them, at the mouldy corners and stuffy materials littered around.

"Always hiding in holes?" Rosalie said. "It is not us"  
"Wishful thinking" Emmett muttered.

"It's just us, Em" Rose whispered, kissing his cheek. "Us against the world"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

"She is putting us _all_ at risk!" Jacob paced her bedroom; three strides to one wall, another three to the opposite and two diagonal and back before stopping in the centre.

She missed her family. She remembered the torture. She didn't know if she liked vampires, if she liked being part vampire at all and the knowledge that her father was Renesme's mate confused her thoroughly. Watching the wolves was always a good distraction; they were naturally happy-but just as keen to rage and anger as Jacob was illustrating in her room.

They were no longer at the beach house, sadly, and the town they were in was all kinds of boring and quiet. It was much better than the previous town they had once stayed in, Angela had told her; a town that had had half its population eaten and destroyed thanks to housing a family of supernatural beings.

"Renesme doesn't strike me as the type of person to just risk things" Maria said slowly "She is the one who organised the house?" Maria pointed out "She does the grocery, she does the cleaning..."  
"She has put us at risk" Jacob growled, stopping abruptly and his dark eyes flashing dangerously.

Maria silenced, twitching in the middle of her bed.

"I am sure this is not right" Jacob said "Searching out long lost families when you are supernatural?"  
"You wouldn't do it?" Maria asked, thinking of her biological father... wondering on so much. She knew, unfortunately, that a large part of her would have wanted to find out the truth.

"No" Jacob said unthinkingly. He paused, placing a finger on his chin "Well, most of my family is supernatural so that's different"  
"And the human ones?" Maria asked.

"There is a reason humans shouldn't know about us" Jacob said, much calmer. He sat at the edge of her bed and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his left hand. She liked Jacob, a lot. He was strong; he was kind and funny and knew when to be serious and when to goof off. She liked him and he was about the one good thing to come out of her ordeal, but there was something in his eyes that she couldn't understand and it scared her.

"Renesme seems very lonely" Maria said "Everyone doesn't like her"  
"That's not true"  
"You don't like her" Maria pointed out.

"That's..." Jacob looked away "Complicated. She doesn't make it easy, she is so..."  
"Inhuman?" Maria laughed. "Maybe that's why she has the interest with the human relation. She is looking for something to anchor her..."

"I can see it in her eyes and it bothers me that I know it" Jacob whispered, startling Maria when he looked at her intensely "With a vampire, you always know. Black eyes are a bad sign... but with hers, you know, they don't go black"  
"They don't?"

"Do yours?" Jacob asked.

"I don't... really... need to drink blood. At all" Maria said sheepishly.

"She does" Jacob said. "She _did" _he threw a newspaper on her lap. It was the town's paper and the headline read, 'Missing woman found, head severed'.

"That's a dangerous accusation!" Maria cried.

"That's why I _haven't_ accused her" Jacob said stiffly. "I have a hunch... and you sort of helped it. She is looking for an anchor, to her humanity because she lost it in that _place_. She orchestrated our reasons to be in this town, our reasons for needing this house..."  
"Jake, come on" Maria whispered "That's murder you are accusing her of"  
"She's a vampire" Jacob breathed. "She hasn't hunted; she hasn't so much as taken a sip of coffee... it's not murder, its feeding"

"There would be something here on bite marks or..."  
"Body wasn't drained" Jacob explained "She wasn't in control, maybe it was an accident..."  
"Don't say it so certainly... it's a hunch, an assumption" Maria said. He nodded impatiently, folding the newspaper.

"Don't tell anyone" Jacob said. "The guys... they don't like her and this wouldn't be good for her at all. I can keep a secret" he tapped the side of his head and grinned at her. Her heart clenched and released, spluttering slightly.

"Why have you told me?" Maria asked. He halted his exit, holding her door handle before tipping his head slightly.

"Welcome to the family" he chuckled. "Think of Renesme as the... problem child?"

"I thought Collin would be the problem child" Maria grumbled.

"He is just horny, that's all" Jacob laughed.

She almost asked him if he wasn't.

"She means good, most of the time but..." he sighed, stepping out of her room "Bronze Barbie has issues and difficulty being cared for. She always thinks people are out to get her..." he closed the door softly and she fell back on the bed, thinking of his smile, his voice and wondering on their past.

All of them; the wolves, Jacob, Charles and Renesme.

"Problem Child" she sighed to herself. She understood that, at least. She had been one, after all, and she had a feeling she was going to manifest that in her new family too.

**Authors Note:**

**Thank you all for the reviews! They just warm my heart...**

**To any new readers, welcome... and if its confusing, that's because this is the third part to a trilogy. You may want to They Set Out to Kill Fate, then They Set out to Fight Love.**

**Leah and Charles... well, its happening. Trust me, but it has to be just right... right?**

**Jacob and Renesme... I think they have been through so much and deserve a chance at happiness.**

**Xxx**

**Tj**


	3. The Last Passion

**The Last Passion**

The realisation that Maria's weakness was something I craved startled me.

I wonder, if she had been half vampire at least, would it have made this much easier; would it have made the thirst so much more bearable if I had had someone to commiserate with. She sits in the lounge, clutching a cushion to her and listening intently as Collin relays his first phase.

Of course, I don't enter the room entirely. They are giving her their history, and when they get to my influence in it... it will hurt. Maybe they will be sincere and leave my insolence out of it; but the impact I had on their beloved Alpha is too great for anyone to ignore.

I meet his eyes; he isn't listening to Collin, he had never been listening. He had been watching me. I frown at him, he frowns at me and I lean away from the door frame and make my way to the kitchen, already mapping my exit through the kitchen door and to the garage. Leah, at least, doesn't care about the past so much.

I move, he shifts slightly and as I walk away, I know Jacob will follow me soon after. This is worse than how he would be drawn to me during our imprint; at least then, it had been sweet and lovely. When it had turned annoying and overbearing, that had been okay too. He follows because he doesn't trust me, he follows because he knows me; how can he know me when he doesn't remember me?

How can he know me so suddenly when the imprint is severed, know me much more intensely than ever. It seems he can read my mind, it feels like he knows every wickedness I had committed and my every call for retribution to the sins that have been imposed upon me.

I am out the door, in the garage and sitting nonchalantly in the worn garden chair in under a second. I can hear him charging into the kitchen, his annoyed sigh and his skipping over the lawn towards the garage.

"Don't do that!" Leah hissed. She pauses her inspection of a gun and removes the goggles she is wearing. It's a gun from the laboratory, such a human piece of equipment. Leah has become obsessed with their little devices.

"Sorry" I shrug. "I'll make a sound next time"

"Why are you even...?" she is about to ask but Jacob enters, his large frame blotting out the sunlight form the outside. His whole front is covered in shadows, his face hidden but his eyes flash. "Right" Leah sniggers, resuming her cleaning of one rifle with a blue tipped barrel with new found fervour.

"Why did you leave?" Jacob demanded. He enters casually and sits opposite me. He stretches his long legs out and folds his hands behind his head, watching me intently.

"Well, I want to allow them to give Maria a detailed account of their history without having to consider my presence" I say, picking at one long thin rifle. Leah pauses her cleaning and gives me a reproving look. I retract my finger and curl it into fist, shoving the hand under my armpit and crossing my arms.

"You over think the past" he says.

"You don't remember it" I tell him. "I was..." I want to say 'so cruel to you', but a rock lodges in my throat. I exhale sharply and look away, watching Leah's steady movements. I don't want to inhale but I have to, and when I do; its Leah and Jacob, mingled with the smell of _gun._ It doesn't hurt so much, it doesn't make my mouth water too badly; Leah covers Jacobs scent, and the gun smell flings it all to nothing but an irksome reminder that I am thirsty.

"How's your great aunt or is it third cousin?" he asks casually. Leah pauses and looks at me from the corner of her eye. "She was Edward's uncle's descendant, right?"

"It's just a suspicion" I mutter. I know he is up to something; we aren't growling at each other, he isn't passing snide remarks. He is being... nice.

"You are nothing if not thorough, Renesme" Jacob leans forward and looks at me sternly "You have no patience for humans, so I think you are more than certain about... Diana?"  
"Diane" I correct.

"Does Edward know?"  
"Why does he have to know?" I breathed "What's the harm in it? All of you get to have family and I can't? I have no one..."  
"You have Charles" Leah corrects.

"Charles is currently busy being in love and I would not get in the way of that" I say quickly.

"In love...?" Jacob frowns.

"Have you not been paying attention to the affairs of your pack?" I smile, rising out of the chair slowly. Leah is glaring at me but it means nothing in the face of Jacob's fleeting emotions disarranging his face; confusion, comprehension, betrayal, pain and a whole other set of feelings.

"Leah and Charles had a lovely little make out session at the beach" I smiled at him. He controlled his expression as best as he could while Leah began to fidget "Our son has grown up so fast, hasn't he?"

Xx~xx~xX

"Rene, you came!" she opened the door wider and stepped aside for me to enter. It was strange, having her want me here; having her so passionate about my company. She didn't find me boring, she didn't make me recoil into myself either and the _chatting _was truly enjoyable.

I was certain it was because she shared genes with me, genes that were untainted by history. It was pure and fresh.

Easy, I realised.

"Of course I would come" I smiled. Her home was humble, clean and feminine. A piano stood unassumingly against the left wall in the dining room and a small dining table at one end. It gave the idea of a family set up, but it was all too sparse.

She led me through her home, into her lounge. "Take a seat" she smiled, pointing at a chair opposite a leather wingback. She didn't have a television set and I liked this, and instead a modest bookcase drew my eye. It had a black vase on top of it, with three long stemmed white flowers with curling bulbs.

"I'll go heat up some water for coffee" she smiled. She was nervous. I was too; that relief of connecting with someone who understood your passion, the intimacy of revealing such a thing to a stranger-the excitement that you would know them, and forever more have a confidant.

I sat down slowly, carefully. Her home smelt sweet, little vases with various dainty flowers littered many surfaces and there was a coating of a feline scent. She had a cat.

"Here..." she entered carrying a small tray, balancing the contents effortlessly. She pulled a side table to me, and placed the tray carefully on it. "I just saw that you seemed to like coffee...?"  
"From the coffee shop?" I laughed. She smiled and laughed with me. "I do spend a lot of time in there, don't I?"  
"Yes, you do..." she took her tea cup and sat in the chair opposite me, crossing her legs gently before taking a small sip "You like to keep an eye on your sister?"

I almost tripped over her question, so lost in the little world we were spinning into life before us. Ballet, flowers and romance... so different from the other world I had lived with Nahuel; ball gowns, blood and corpses "Yes" I answered after an uncustomary pause. "I mean... she is more at ease when she knows I support her independence"

"I wish I had had someone like that" she sighed "I ran away to be a ballerina" she raised her head proudly, closing her eyes and recalling the perfect moment she had braved the world and fought for her dreams. She smiled, opening her eyes "When you have no one, Rene... you have to have yourself" she sipped her tea, watching me from above the rim of her spectacles.

"That is... so true" I said, holding the hot cup in both my hands. I smelt it experimentally; the bitter smell of coffee, the sting of it in my sensitive nose and the grumbling of my stomach and scorch of my throat-this was not blood. I pressed my closed lips to the rim, tilting the cup slightly so the steam wafted over my nose before quickly placing it back on the tray.

She was watching me fixedly. I smiled, it startled her a little and she smiled back hastily.

"You are _so_ beautiful" she sighed almost enviously "So young and _gorgeous_ to be so sad!"

"I am not sad" the smile stuck on my face. "And you...!" I pointed at her "Beauty incarnate"  
"My dear..." she drank her tea lengthily, leaning elegantly in the chair "I will not be bashful about it; I was a looker but you, Rene, are _hypnotic. _Why, no wonder that big brute is always stalking you! He is probably outside, positively love sick and waiting for you!"

"It's not what you think" I told her slowly "I keep telling you"  
"Oh, please" she winked knowingly "He is _hypnotised_. He is a new resident here, isn't he? I think I heard Joseph, my late husband's friend, mention he had visited their gym?"

I blinked, dumbfounded. I didn't know what activities Jacob got up to if he wasn't being _cosy _with Maria or training with Atka, Seth and Embry. The thought that he would be doing something so very human made me reel back. I forgot sometimes, that in between everything that was happening we needed to be human. Diane had reminded me of that fact; our humanity made the supernatural war more bearable.

That very weakness was what made us sane, or was the insanity of holding onto it what made everything else seem so attainable.

We were very careful to keep our address as hidden as possible. I had chosen the house lost in the middle of nothing, and distance was virtually nothing for everyone. There were two cars in town that we could use once we got here, a cover; Katherine would arrive on Seth, then he would drive her to the coffee shop and most times I would surrender the second car to Jacob and take a cab.

"Yes, I met him here" I raised the cup but midway on its journey to my lips, I put it back down. I hated coffee; the brown liquid looked like dead blood. Poison.

"There is an Indian Reservation not far from here..." she said. "I've seen a couple of guys from there at the gym too..."  
Wolves going to the gym. I laughed.

She smiled, giving me a mild dubious look before touching her cup "Ah, I'm all out!" she got up hurriedly, walking over to me "Let me refill yours too" she picked my cup up and looked inside it. She said nothing for a moment, no comment on the full cup before rushing away to the kitchen with a non committal yelp.

I prayed she wouldn't come back with fresh hot coffee... the little biscuits on the tray looked like daisy shaped sponges. She re-entered, smiling and at ease... with two cups in her hand. Coffee wafting in the air. My stomach churned...

"Ah, Ms Mopsy!" Diane placed the cup on my table and a ginger cat strutted in. It paused a few feet from me and looked up at me with dark eyes before rerouting and walking deliberately by my feet, and then back again, rubbing its back against my bare shin. I giggled abruptly and it meowed, looking up at me sulkily with its green eyes.

It sort of reminded me of Charles, as a wolf. I giggled again.

"She likes you" Diane smiled. "That's good"

"She's lovely" I picked her up carefully and rubbed my cheek to her face. She began to purr gently, appreciating the affection. I kissed her nose once, nudging my own nose against hers before placing her back down.

"Would you like to see some photos I have?" Diane reached behind her chair "They are of my younger days with _the company_"

I tensed, my heart stuttering.

"I was with the _Grande Royal_ company...!" she said smugly, retrieving a maroon covered album and opening it carefully "Oh, the glamour and grace; the parties and unruliness...!"

"Ballet Company" I smiled in relief, the breath knocking out of me. "Yes...!" I reached my hand out and she leaned forward, passing me the album.

She was in most of the photos; in costume, on stage, mingled with other humans, at parties and out in the town. She had been as petite as she was now, but her hair had been bone straight and long where it was not tied into a bun. There was a man with her in some, a handsome man who was not her husband I was sure.

"Who is he?" I asked her.

"The only man I found my passion in" she sipped her tea. "The worst thing to ever happen to me"

"I can relate" I whispered.

"He loved me in such a way as I had never known!" she laughed "He showed me lights and glamour..."

As Nahuel had done.

"Oh, he loved me... he loathed me..." she took another sip, loudly "He hated everything I was; my beauty, my talent and my love for the world" she spat this out "He was already the best. Oh, he was a magnificent dancer and I couldn't understand why my demure talent was a threat. He thought my function was to pay tribute to him; console _his_ talent, console _his_ beauty..."

"What a devious _weak _man!" I snarled.

"Very true" she smiled, but it was a bitter smile. "I was there to simply accentuate what he thought of himself; a god-I was to be beautiful, I was to be desirable but most importantly I was to be his...oh, he ruined me!"  
"Asshole!" I hissed.

"Every word from him would be a lie. Every loving action had a self serving purpose" she shook her head. "Oh, he thought he was _so_ clever... so well hidden in his visage, that at times he believed his own lies!"

"That kind of guy could change your sexuality" I frowned. "Could make you consider an alternate _species_..."

"He had me with as little as a bit of glitz and cocaine" she said nonchalantly "A cheap price, wouldn't you say?"  
"For such a beauty as yourself?" I smiled. "Too cheap"

"I left him" she said softly "Before he had bled me dry. The city was threatening to kill me on behalf of him too... so I ran back here. Married a good man..."  
"What's a good man?"

"A man who knows enough about your passion to let you burn a candle in its memory, but not enough that he can snuff it out" she winked "A simple man, is a good man... but like my late sister would say-this was after meeting the ballet peacock, 'A gentleman always lets his woman pose'"

She pointed at a worn picture, where the handsome man had stepped half in front of her, partially hiding her and posed. I laughed.

"What would _you_ say a good man was?" she asked me.

Someone who was not Nahuel?

"Someone who is not like me?" I whispered. What had drawn me to Nahuel, after all, was being in the same species; it meant sharing the same wants and likes, I supposed.

"I can understand that" she nodded, her eyes urging me on.

"Someone who knew to be... firm with me?" I tried not to think about Jacob's ability to do just that "I can be very stubborn, you see. I think I would need someone who... wouldn't take advantage of me. I can be very trusting too... or at least, I used to be that way"

"Funnily, all that I needed I found in my husband although it was not passion at first" she sighed gently "He didn't know _anything _about refined arts, he cared very little for fashion, had no interest in the public world, preferred that I did all the talking and couldn't manipulate peanut butter out of a jar even if you gave him the spoon!"

I laughed with her. "We were nothing alike" she smiled wistfully "And it was exactly what I needed. So yes, I understand you"

"I suppose we all need the obsession of finding a soul mate" I said thoughtfully "You have to grow from that, to find the _right_ love. The sweetness is the silence of being mystified by a lover's language and passion. The purity is in the humility of his admiration, the sensuality of learning the intricacies of that language you don't share, _that_ unrefined love; the rare disposition of its complexity in knowing you before you have uttered a word, not from being you... but loving you as you are, so completely different from them. A true love that does not show off or deride from your individual value"

"You are who you are" she breathed "Not an accessory to another being's self-worth"

"Precisely"

"Profoundly" she smiled. "Would you like to see a picture of my husband?"

I nodded my head; I was lost in a future where I would find a love that had no purpose save to be. It wasn't about how you made them feel, how you made them look; it had no significance but simply to exist; incongruously through every sin, such a love could heal any wound and then after, the evidence of its beauty would emerge in ones sense of self and self image. It was not a means to an end, there to stroke an ego, uplift the insecure... it just _was_.

I wanted it so badly.

She took another album from behind the chair, from a ledge that ran along the room divider I realised. It was thin and half the size of the maroon one. She opened the first page and pointed at a picture of two young girls "My sister and I"

She turned the next page and straightened up; rising "That's him" she moved backwards and sat down in her chair. "Keep going"

"Is this your mother and father?" I asked but she was now much too far to see. She simply nodded. I turned the next few pages; a wedding, a party (not like her wild city ones), a baptism of a niece I thought... a worn one that looked like that of her father, and then...

"Oh" I breathed.

"You have seen it then" she whispered. "What would be the first ever family photo? It was taken many decades ago... and yet, there you are Rene"

"Diane?" I whispered, but the sudden smell of _blood_ knocked me back further.

When danger approaches and there is that certainty that you are about to be harmed; there is that split seconds of naivety were you do believe that it's not as bad as it seems-that you may leave unscathed. I trust her, even now and I am trying to force my mind to project an alternate reality to this one-it's a misunderstanding, please let it be a misunderstanding dear God...

I can't acknowledge that I had trusted her more than I had trusted those who had been in my life since my first breath, but that was what had happened and it made me so angry; it made me angry with _myself_. I had wanted the little family; I had wanted the human life so badly and yet I had clung to my principles that humans were lesser, humans were incapable of such cruelty; such a contradiction in my sentiments when I had been tortured by humans.

I was so angry with myself. How could I be so _stupid..._!

"Yes, Rene" she smiled. "I know you are not human" she raised her cut finger in the air, surveying it with wicked curiosity. "They warned me you would come for me" she whispered, the blood oozing thick and slow down her index finger.

"No" my voice was low, strained. My throat roared with anticipation, my nostrils flared and my mind was clogged with the smell of her blood; the understanding of what was in it. Pure life. My body lurched forward, my mind commanded it to remain still and I slammed into myself. I shuddered, my eyes watering and heart beating fast. "No..." I shook my head. "You wouldn't...know" I said "I was careful?"

"They warned me you would come to kill me" she hissed "Like you killed my husband"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" I cried, clutching the armrest of the chair, my fingers digging through the material until I could feel the wood beneath the stuffing. I gouged into it, and tried to somewhat nail myself to the chair; to keep from flying at her, to keep from ramming into her frail body and latching onto her neck.

To keep from killing her.

"Diane?" I pleaded but she squeezed her finger, the blood dripping freely.

"This was all it would take?" she sighed. "For you to reveal yourself to me?"

"You were waiting for me" I breathed.

"I was warned" Diane laughed "I thought they were mad; but when I saw you in the coffee shop, I knew that I would live again. I would be back on the stage...!"

"Enough of this" I got up shakily and she paid me attention "I will kill you"  
"Like you killed my husband?"  
"Like I killed so many worthless humans...!" I snarled and she reeled back, finally understanding that knowing I was a demon and witnessing it in the act were two different things. She reached behind her, struggling with something and pulled out a gun, pointing it at me with little confidence.

"A gun?" I laughed. I raised her _precious_ coffee table easily with one hand and clenched my fingers around the rim of the table top. It snapped in an unjust quarter, the larger portion of it falling to the ground instantly and she let out a tiny shriek, the gun shaking in her hands. "If you are going to do something, do it with conviction. If you are going to kill, kill with everything you have. If you are going to love, love as though you will die at any second..."

She cut me short, the trigger pulled and a loud bang filling the room. For a moment, I was unsure on what had happened, my ears ringing painfully. I looked at her through a haze of liquid-tears, I realised and stupidly registering that they were my _own _tears.

"That was..." I was going to say annoying but when the ringing sound abated for my ears, I could feel the wetness on my front. I tasted rust and my throat roared, and I thought-again, such an idiotic thought-that I had somehow grabbed her and fed from her. But I hadn't... of course, I hadn't... I had more control. She was, just human and not so appetizing that I would lose all sense.

The blood in my mouth was my own, gurgled up from my throat and seeping from within my body. The wetness on my front was blood too, my own, and inside me I could feel hooks. Needles pierced my skin over the expanse of my front; I looked down and saw several tiny tubes anchored from each hole the gun had wounded on my body. The tubes ran from me, to the gun that Diane held shakily in her hands.

"Wh..." as I tried to talk, I coughed out blood. The movement of my lungs, the movement of my body against the tubes caused me severe pain. My eyes stung, tears rolled down my face and when I looked to her glass cabinet, I saw my reflection.

I was pale, my mouth stained with my blood. It dribbled from my chin to my front, and along my shirt several bloody holes shown and from them, clear tubes escaped back to Diane's gun.

There was a soft knock on her door. I hadn't heard any footsteps, but my senses were currently focused on the fact that I may just die, simply because I was denying myself human blood for so long. She jumped at the sound of the knock, the gun wobbling and with it the tubes too and I groaned in pain, more blood pushing up my throat and being coughed out.

"Coming!" she yelled. She tugged backwards and I was forced to follow. "I suggest you don't move" she whispered, wiping sweat from her brow. She placed the gun on the couch she had been sitting on, looking at me with disgusted wonder before attending to the door.

I should move to the gun, I thought. But my nerves were on fire; the needles in me must have been tainted with something.

"You are here!" I heard her greet. Her voice was shrill, she was afraid of her own actions. I stared at the gun, willing it to fly to me. I willed my hands to move and remove the sickening tubes, pry the needles out of me but I was paralyzed.

"There she is..." Diane entered the lounge, pointing a shaking finger at me. I heard the tap of court shoes over the tiles, the little sigh and the two heavier sets of footsteps echoing the woman.

"Renesme" Lorraine smiled sweetly. "You silly little girl"

I was afraid.

Out of all the possibilities, this one had not crossed my mind. I had been so certain that it was Joham, or Nahuel... or the Volturi, someone... but her? This prim fat woman with her beady eyes and pink thin lips and floral puke outfit.

"You should have listened when I told you not to go into the lab room" Lorraine shook her head, walking to the chair that the gun sat threateningly on. She touched it contemplatively and looked up at me, smiling again "You see, you took something from us. You took a young girl that we had been hoping to one day hire into our Company"

Maria.

"Joham knows" Lorraine sighed. "He knows that the girl exists but I have seen nothing so I am guessing Isabella has adopted her?"

She didn't know about the pack. Of course, they were not in her system and Maria had been unwilling to join Katherine working at the coffee shop. To Lorraine, the dithering Quileutes meant nothing; she knew nothing of them. It was I that she had been watching.

"Jo..." I tried and she laughed manically.

"Yes, he has been here... looking for you. Looking for Maria" Lorraine giggled "Of course, after he killed that woman I had to let him know that this was my territory. I can't take him down..." she paused "He is keeping Rio in check of current. Raul as you know, is a barbarian. My superiors were not pleases with the incident in that little town your family had taken refuge in, do you remember? So many deaths... and after the break out... well, I can't just go setting werewolves on you"

The men entered the room on queue and grinned at me; thin, lifeless and hungry. I gulped my fear and blood down.

"But I have a better way for you to die, Renesme" she whispered, taking the gun and unscrewing its mouth. The tubes were attached to a small coin like piece. The one man rolled a clear plastic drum in and carried it towards me, placing it by my feet. She attached the small piece to a small tap on the drum and turned it once. I felt the blood pull out of me, the pain as it left and the horror as it slid through the tubes and dripped into the drums.

She wiped her hands on the couch and turned to Diane "You have done well, my dear"

"It's just like you said" Diane whispered.

"Yes" Lorraine smiled before turning her cruel eyes at me "The idiocy of searching out a human relation!"

It had been Diane who had alerted Lorraine that I was in the town, and yet if Diane had not called Lorraine I would have had Joham to deal with. Joham, was infinitesimally crueller. Simply draining me of blood until my heart stilled, would not please him.

"Once again, your family has abandoned you" Lorraine laughed. She picked up the damning picture of a lovely woman flanked by two men, holding a bundled baby. It was ancient and worn but there was no mistake in my resemblance to Edward's mother. I could have been her twin. "Die well, finally... Renesme"

Xx~xx~xX

I could hear every drop of my blood thundering into the rising ocean of red trapped in the clear drum. I had been afraid of death, but _not_ afraid of dying. Death's end was not the terror, the terror had been in the journey and who would oversee my descent into darkness.

Alone, with only my thoughts and sweet memories, I was safe. God would watch me, Esme would hold me; I was safe. Dying was not cruel; a still heart was not such a gruesome state; if it were painless, if I were coddled in the warmth of knowing all that mattered was safe.

"I can take that nap now..." I thought to Angela, but she would never hear me. I could sleep now for the torture of existing would come to an end.

Each drop would be every second of my life. Could I say it had been short? I had fulfilled more than many a human; I had laughed and maybe not as much as was essential but I did have something to hold on to that resembled true happiness. I had cried, maybe more than what was customary but I had come to learn that pain was not weakness; it was what had made my skin thicker. I had loved...

Naively, intensely and cruelly. If I could undo that emotion I had allowed to be abused by an undeserving man, that love I had inflicted on an innocent man... I would undo the torment my tainted heart had caused and endured.

But it had burnt to ashes, from that soot a new virtuous muscle formed.

That heart was an underground brook, covered by parched lands and a bitter wilderness. The exertion of such an expedition, the limits that would have to be pushed coupled with the uncertainty of surviving that journey... how many brave men would dare? Why risk it... those waters were precarious; they could just as easily be nectar as they could be poison.

In my approaching death, I still found no fault in Diane; she had given me something I had never had. It was not ostentatious, not life changing... something so small and meagre.

A conversation as though I were a young woman passionate about ballet; I grabbed onto that little fantasy, and as my mind queasily swirled; I danced in a room filled with mirrors, my hair tied tightly on my head, wound into a bun and a pale pink costume fit elegantly on my body.

I was purity, I was beauty, I was innocence and no one was watching.

Papa's lullaby twirled in my head, and I glided over its tune, weaving in with its delicate peal.

Xx~xx~xX


	4. A Thousand Ways to Die

**A Thousand Ways to Die**

**Xx~xx~xX**

**X**

**x**

**CHARLES EDWARD BLACK**

I don't think we truly know happiness, until we know misery. It was like light and darkness, to understand the other you needed to experience its counterpart but this did not make darkness or misery such cruel things. Without them, there could be no nectar of prescience to the world.

Without them, everything would not be all so sweet...

"...and Seth says Carlisle could help with my condition..." Katherine continued, waving her hands in the air to illustrate how _wondrous _Seth's words were. I smiled, expertly listening to her while watching Leah and Seth have their own discussion hunched over the coffee table; the worst spies to ever exist.

"Carlisle will not be back with us in a long time, Katherine" I sighed, holding her hand carefully. She started at the contact, her hand jerking slightly but not escaping my own. She hated being touched, constantly wary of everyone's intention, albeit on a subconscious level.

She was still scrawny, carrying the weight of her werewolf affliction forever but there was light in her eyes. I could remember her human self so easily and it amazed me that she seemed to have fared much better with this life that so many of us thought of as a form of purgatory or damnation.

She had been human once, truly and naturally with no ambiguity to the fact; and yet now, when she had a nasty taste for dead flesh... she had come alive. Sometimes, what we think we are is not what the world sees us as; she would never have known her own strength had she not had it sapped out of her by that bite.

If Carlisle returned, if Carlisle cured her; would she still hold that light? Would it not die as the poison that had united with her genes was removed? Could she go back to the dim light of humanity, the brief flicker of mortality's fast burning candle?

Her smile had faltered after I had told her that Carlisle's was unlikely to return-as I expected it to. When I had been her age, I had understood things almost instantaneously with little explanation and a lot of intuition. When I had been her age, I had had men following Leah and I, I had had a hybrid mother who was ten years older than I and a shape shifter father with little hold on his reality.

But I had had Leah, for all my life.

"Those two are up to something?" I leaned on the counter and cocked my head to the left, to the Clearwater siblings.

"Oh, Jacob asked Seth to stick around in the coffee shop until 'instructed' otherwise" she said after a minute. This didn't interest her like it interested me, except possibly for the attention Seth's presence garnered from the other waitresses. It must be a girl thing, _showing off_... Katherine was wise enough not say much on the matter-still undecided on Seth-but having a bunch of shape shifters and Renesme and myself constantly coming in and out of the coffee shop had done wonders for her budding social life.

"Why?"  
"How should I know?" she pouted, looking at one of the waiters from the corner of her eye-a pretty blonde girl with too much lip gloss on her lips.

"Come on, Katherine" I sighed "Try. Seth and Leah have no interest in being here"

"You are here?" she pointed out.

"I am" I agreed, smiling at her "But I wasn't invited and that annoys me"  
"You get annoyed a lot these days" she pressed her lips together to keep from giggling. It was something I wasn't obliged to like about her, unlike Seth, and Katherine's giggles were high pitched and _painful_-not the audio volume, oh she couldn't reach such volume, but something in the hilt and quality. I imagined this was what it would feel like to have a little sister... who had the world's worst pms ever...

"Your friend?" I pointed at the blonde "She's pretty"  
"I promised her I would introduce you to her" Katherine whispered conspiratorially, leaning her head lower to my ear. "She is having a party this afternoon"  
"Does Seth know?" I mouthed to her, checking if Leah and Seth were engrossed in their 'code' sibling stuff. They were arguing, in _Quileute_...

Tricky Shape Shifter's... why Edward _had_ to teach me a Latin was besides me...

She shook her head once, sideways and went back to wringing her towel. "I was sort of hoping Jacob would take me..."  
"No, you don't want that" I chuckled "He is a lot less mature in public, but still packs an intimidating punch on fun"  
"Have you ever been to a party?" Katherine asked her eyes wide and in awe. I could almost hear her thoughts; this would be the part I said 'Yes', and spoke on how cool my life had been.

"No, no parties" I smiled "I was a major dork, I got bullied, had acne and asthma"

She gasped; something about her reaction seemed more intense than if I had told her I had been a rock star. She was about to say more when the blonde girl called her, sure not to look at me, and pointed at a very dishevelled woman-that was Angela, walking in.

"Kat!" the girl called "That one's yours"  
"Okay" Katherine nodded her head enthusiastically, probably mapping out her rise to popularity against the moon's schedule and Jacob's planned departure to Malwood. "Angela!" Katherine called, and Angela moved irksomely slow towards us-wearing shades, a lose pony on top of her head and a mismatched training outfit. She _obviously_ hadn't seen Renesme this morning.

"Has the sun always been this bright?" Angela's voice was groggy and the smell of alcohol wafting off of her aggravated my nose. "Why does everyone insist on hanging out here?"  
"I work here" Katherine said primly, pointing at her name badge proudly. "Charles... is helping me with...something"  
"First thing about being supernatural, is learn to lie... even I know that" Angela sighed, removing her shades and placing them indifferently on the counter top, before rudely waving blondie over.

"Hey!" Angela yelled, shocking half the patrons "I need coffee!" she pointed at the coffee-cup free space in front of her.

"Kaaat?"" the waitress whined but Katherine seemed to have forgotten that was her new nickname.

"Uhm, Katherine" I nudged her arm and she looked at me, blinking unassumingly "You sort of work here...?"  
"Where?"  
"In this coffee shop?" I pointed at her name tag, her uniform and then mouthed "Blondie's party?"

"Oh, uh... I'll be your waitress, Angela" Katherine smiled, standing straight and retrieving a little notepad from her breast pocket "What would you have?"  
"A strong cappuccino" Angela grumbled and the moment Katherine walked away, she turned sharply to me and said "The service here sucks. Why should anyone have to remind the waitresses that they are waitresses"  
"Hangover much?" I chuckled and she gave me a warning look, before looking around the shop.

"Stalking Leah much?"  
"Technically, she would have been stalking me first"

"Technically..." Angela sighed in relief as her cappuccino arrived "That's just a technicality... a very weird one"

"You live with a bunch of freaks" I chuckled "You still want to use the word 'weird' to describe stuff?"  
"Speaking of weird" she sipped her beverage slowly, closing her eyes in satisfaction "Since when are you and Katherine thick as thieves?"

I could see why Jacob liked Angela. She was shockingly perceptive and her wit cut with just the right amount of depth, leaving it near impossible to be offended.

"Between you and I" I whispered to her "Katherine and I are thinking of doing some teenage things"

"Sounds... dangerous for you. Should I say 'use protection' or 'get neutered'?" she sipped her coffee, before paying attention to Katherine's over exaggerated gagging with mild interest "Atka's quite the looker, too bad he isn't that tall, eh?"  
"Atka?" I frowned, looking over to Leah and Seth's cosy scheming. I met Seth's eyes and he frowned viciously at me. He had obviously heard my little shout of 'Atka', from across the shop.

I had that 'Ah' moment as the pieces of the pack started making a little more sense outside of my determination to annoy Leah into submission.

"Uhm... I should introduce you to Jessica" Katherine flung her towel across the countertop were it slid right off and disappeared at her side of the counter. She contemplated retrieving it, then looked up at me, then at a laughing Angela before her eyes swivelled to the Clearwaters. I watched as her eyes widened-no doubt meeting Seth's gaze.

She stumbled away then, muttering to herself.

"You are dangerous when you are hung over" I sighed.

"Correction" Angela smiled "I am dangerous when I don't get my coffee"  
"Why couldn't you just make it at home?"  
"The coffee machine broke" Angela said behind her raised cup. "I needed to speak to our home _management _about that, but neither Nessie nor Jake could be found and you know how the pack behaves when Leah and Jacob aren't around. Bunch of toddlers with muscles..."

"I can't imagine you before this" I sighed.

"Funnily, not much has changed" she chuckled "Still single, back to drinking but now, I have grey hair"

"Its three strands" I said, carefully pulling one out of her pony.

"Two are better than one but _three_ is just cruel"

"Jessica" Katherine beamed, pointing at me "This is Charles. He thinks you are pretty"  
I am burning every single one of her Gossip Girl DVD's.

"Don't I get introduced?" Angela complained "Or am I not cool enough?" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Is this your mum?" Jessica asked, pointing at Angela.

"I'm going to the grownups table" Angela huffed, taking her coffee and shades with her before throwing Jessica a disdained look. "If you all had been nicer, I would have spied for you"  
"No use" I chuckled "Unless you speak Quileute but what you could do, is give me your car keys"  
"Why would you need a car?" Angela asked.

I smiled at her indicatively, tilting my head to Jessica.

"No, seriously?" Angela frowned.

"To get from point A..." I placed a finger on one inch of the table "To B" then moved it to a further place "Safely and quickly?"

"Right" she took the keys out off her pocket and tossed them on the table. "Perpetual Teenagers"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**Jacob Black**

**X **

I read in a magazine once, some psychological article, on how victims of kidnapping would get attached to their kidnappers. Those victims would end up forming a bond with their captors, a strange form of love and companionship through that violence.

"_Stupid_" I watched her from behind the tinted windows, walking carefree on the pavement. Half vampire, beautiful, intelligent with preternatural senses and she _hadn't_ noticed me. I knew she wasn't pretending, I knew this wasn't a game (just like before, in the coffee shop); Renesme didn't give a damn whether I knew or not.

This was not about me, this was not about the wolves or our group; this was all about her. Stupid, clever and selfish as she was and maybe I should just let her be. I should let her have her fun, let her anchor her humanity in that woman; have a real grandmother or whatever Diane Downey was to her.

Renesme pauses, and for a second I think that she may know I am watching her. I had changed cars, I had arrived this side of town much earlier than she had and although I didn't know what number Diane's house was-I knew I was in the right street and in the right location. She looked around her, a little smile on her face before walking deliberately up to a house. She moved strangely for her-human, absently and... free. She tiptoed over the pavement, skipping lightly before doing an odd ballerina's twirl in the air, landing gracefully back down. She remained poised for a second-and again, the possibility that I had been discovered was real and she could just be messing with my head... but she wasn't.

"What is she doing?" Maria leaned in from the backseat, wedging herself in the space between the driver's seat and the passenger seat. "Is she... playing games?"

"No, she isn't..." I sighed, watching as she disappeared into the house. "She is in her own world"

"She is in her own world?" Maria scoffed, falling back theatrically. "You've been spying on her..."  
"Watching over her" I corrected. "Someone has to do it"

"I just don't get why that someone has to be you" she sighed. "Or do you feel indebted for her saving your life?"  
"She didn't save my life" I sighed. "I don't react to venoms the way my brothers and sister do; I heal from it, eventually"  
"Is that because you are Alpha?" she asked, leaning forward again, this time really close to me. I could feel her breath wisp over my cheek as she spoke.

"It's because of Charles" I said carefully, looking at her from the corner of my eye.

"Charles..." Maria nodded. "He's... your son"  
"Try not to sound so dumbfounded" I sighed "We are immortal"  
"No, I get it..." she smiled ruefully "It's just... you seem really young sometimes, when you aren't in 'Alpha Mode'"  
"I _am_ young"  
"I mean psychologically" she said and then added "But not as bad as Bradley and Collin can get, but somehow still... more... _naturally_ young"  
"I had amnesia" I said "I lost a couple of decades because of it" I paused and took in a careful breath before continuing, with my eyes closed and the memory of each death I had felt brought to the fore front of my vision and heart "When I woke up from the death this last time, I was worried I wouldn't remember them; Charles... Renesme"  
"Why Renesme?" she asked, her tone mildly disdainful. "I mean, I get the whole first love thing..."  
"I don't remember that part of our relationship" I said, choosing to leave out the complicated 'imprint' word "I don't remember her. I lost all the years of my life with her. I remembered all the way up to the point I was sixteen..."

"That would give you all the more reason not to care on really remembering her" Maria grumbled, manoeuvring herself to the front seat "I don't mean to be cruel..."  
I thought she really did mean to be cruel, in a very _teenage _way. It was cute... refreshing.

"It's just... she and you seem..."  
"To hate each other" I whispered.

"And yet after Charles, it was her you wanted to remember?"  
"I know her" I said. "The fights you see Nessie and I have, Maria... don't let them mislead you, don't let them make you confident in your assumptions. The way I feel about her is not the same as what my brother's feel about her"  
"There is no doubt about that?" she smiled, her small hand going over mine and squeezing lightly. I almost jumped at the contact, frowning at the contrast of our skin and the size of her hand against mine. She rubbed her thumb over the back of my hand and said "You are the most caring person I know"  
"After Angela, you mean" I smiled.

She smiled too, never removing her hand. She looked me straight in the eye and I could feel myself warm up, heat up from the centre. I didn't know what to do, were Maria and I where and how we had gotten here...

"Er..." I coughed, taking my hand back and using it to brush my hair back. I locked my arms over my chest-safely-and leaned back in the seat.

"Did I overstep?" she whispered.

"No" my voice came out gruff, it was safer to keep my eyes closed and pretend to be deep in some important thought... not my little teenage horniness working up a storm in me. I realised how _not _used to this I was. Fling a boulder at me, shoot at me... just, don't flirt with me Maria.

"I did, didn't I?" there was a smile in her voice. "I'm..." she began but she stopped suddenly, dropping to the floor of the car abruptly and letting out a sharp wheeze. I jumped, looking around and grabbing the steering wheel.

She was crouched in the space in front of the seat, her eyes wide and whites clear. She was pale.

"Maria?"

"Shhh!" she put her index finger over her lips and mouthed "Lorraine"

I looked up, expecting to see soldiers, werewolves and tanks. Instead, an SUV was parked in front of the house next to Diane's, and a plump woman stood beside it talking to a tall thin man animatedly. The plump woman was exactly how Angela had described her; a mother, a housewife... a church going woman. Not a cruel, vindictive calculating general of an army of werewolves and anti-supernatural humans.

"They are talking about... Joham" I whispered. "I can't quite make it out but I think... he was... here" a chill ran down my spine and my fingers clenched over the steering wheel. The one man looked over to my car, gazing at me for a second too long. "Stay here" I told Maria.

"What the heck?!" she hissed.

I ignored her and opened the door slowly, stepping out calmly and stretching. I walked around the car to the bonnet and pulled it up before leaning over the engine and frowning. "Water" I sighed loudly, slamming the bonnet shut with careful force. I waved at the men and they frowned at me in response. It was Lorraine who waved back, instead.

I walked over to them slowly, rubbing my hands over my jeans and praying Renesme was not paying attention to the outdoors right now. I couldn't predict her reaction, and as I got closer to the car I saw three more men inside it. That would put it at six werewolves, and just behind the car... a small car parked. Two more men where inside; we were badly outnumbered and nothing rash could be afforded.

"Afternoon" I smiled at Lorraine, nodding at her hostile body guards. "This is a strange question, but do you live there?" I pointed at the house next to Diane's, and then back at my car "I sort of need water for my car..."

"Oh, has it broken down?" she asked sweetly, her eyes filling with concern. I couldn't believe she was a cold calculating bitch... not at all; her smile was genuine and so was her worry. "I don't live there, but people around here are really nice"

I smiled at her, expertly and said my thank you before walking up to the house, praying all the while and trying to listen in to Diane's home. I thought I could hear laughter, I thought I could hear Diane's screams of blue murder but mostly I could feel my heart beating heavily in my chest. I could feel _power_, fear and anticipation raging in my veins.

I got to the door and forgot to knock, all my senses-mental and otherwise-somehow trying to hone in on Renesme, Lorraine and Maria in the car.

"Shit" I breathed. I knocked on the door, too forcefully and it shuddered under each thump.

"Hold your horses...!" an old voice came from inside. It was a man, he had a problem with his left leg and he was dragging something. I could hear the soft patter of an animal, I could smell the dog through the door-I knew it was a Jack Russell.

The door opened, the man peered up at me annoyed and his little dog went behind his bad leg and whimpered.

"I need water" I growled, forcing myself not to look behind me.

"Listen, there is a neighbourhood watch here..." he began and I huffed. My hand had started shaking.

"I mean... can I have some water, please" I cut him impatiently and he gave me a lovely sneer.

"Well, can you?" he pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. He had been dragging an oxygen tank over the wood and had leant it against the door.

"May I?" I was using too much of my mind to stay calm, but there was enough room in me to consider backhanding him in his cigarette smelling mouth.

"Humph" he scoffed looking me up and down. "You're big" he said in contempt "And Rudolph doesn't like you" the dog was cowardly growling behind his master's leg.

"Doesn't he?" I asked. I hunkered down and looked Rudolph in the eye. His growling choked out into a soft whimper. "Shut up" I smiled at Rudolph and he shivered, laying on his side and revealing his underside. I got up and looked at the man. "I think we understand each other"

Fuck everyone being nice here...

"Hmm" he looked at his dog contemplatively "Are those friends of yours?"  
"You obviously don't get a lot of visitors" I grumbled.

"Pardon" he asked.

"Could I get that water?"  
"Could you?"  
"May I?" I said through gritted teeth.

"I suppose you may..."he began but I didn't let him finish, charging through his house and heading upstairs to the left side. He attempted to follow, yelping his disapproval and swearing at me but I was already in his dirty bedroom, drenched in cigarette fumes. I looked out the window to Diane's house and caught a glimpse of Diane in the kitchen, stirring a cup of something.

Poison, I thought. Renesme, I thought in the next second. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of cyanide bringing Bronze down but Rudolph's master was working a cough inside of him from his ranting on 'intruders'.

"I need your phone" I said the moment I was downstairs.

"What?!" he glared at me.

"I need...your... phone!" I snarled, taking his packet of cigarettes and squashing them in my hand. He looked at the squashed packet like I had chocked a little kitten in my fist before glaring at me in disbelief.

"Phone's in the kitchen" he shook his head "Use it, get the water and get out..."

I had almost forgotten about the water.

The phone rang twice, and in the second I had told Seth it was me, he answered, "Can I leave now" he grumbled. "Katherine's gone off with your good for nothing son and gotten herself fired..."  
"My imprint!" Leah's voice cut from the other end. "At least he isn't a werewolf...!"

"Well, at least she isn't a... a..." there was a pause and Seth's attention came back to me. "Every time your son goes on a joy ride, he dies in some way or manner and..."  
"Shut the fuck up and get to the house, now" I growled.

"Jake?"  
"Get to the fucking house and I'll meet you there shortly" I said shortly, cutting the phone on him before he could let out any complaint or question. I looked around the kitchen in confusion, remembering Maria in the car and subsequently the water.

"I hope I never see you again!" Rudolph's dying master yelled as I moved across the lawn. He was just loud enough that the men around the black car looked at me. I ignored them and headed for the car, popping the bonnet up and pouring water over the engine before chucking the water jug indifferently into the bushes.

I got in, gave Maria one look and started the car; resolved to drive around four blocks as slow as I could manage and then get back here.

Xx~xx~xX

"Diane isn't here!" Maria yelled but I had followed my nose. I hadn't needed to go up the stairs the moment I had walked into the house. I hadn't needed to do much, except follow Renesme's honey scent into the lounge... follow her and feel my heart shudder and have the air sucked out of my lungs.

She was slouched in a leather chair, her hair a reddish veil obscuring her face and blood stained over her shirt, tubes sticking out of her and sucking blood from her into a clear drum. She wasn't moving, blood drenched ominously into her white blouse and splattered over the chair.

"No" the air was completely gone from me, the world so suddenly small and empty. I walked over to her slowly, placing each foot in front of the other as though the carpet was hiding bombs beneath it.

"I think she is..." Maria began and I growled at her, the moment I snapped my head in her direction and met her eyes, a tear escaped my eyes, and then another one and then a few more. The liquid burnt, my eyes throbbed and as I snarled "Don't you fucking say it!" my throat splintered and ripped open as my voice pushed out.

I knelt by Renesme's feet, closing my eyes and trying to force an image of her face. She would be weak and when I pushed her hair from her face, her eyes would be open when I met them, she would look at me as sadly and haughtily as she always did, but she would be alive. She would blink slowly, give a tiny smile and tell me something ridiculous on how she could take care of herself.

I looked up, pushed her hair from her face and met half opened eyes; glassy and lifeless.

"SHIT!" I pushed back from her, my heart swelling and bruising in my chest and the tears fell in a torrent, the velocity so painful. "Oh God!"

"Jacob?" Maria whispered. I was on the floor, I was crying and I was a kid again. "What do we do?"

I couldn't think. I tried to remember how I had handled Esme... how I had handled so much but I realised I had been a wolf then. Certain things, were duller and more potent as the wolf.

"Jake?" Maria's voice grew tinier, it trembled slightly but _she_ was in control while I drowned in a world where I hadn't saved Renesme, were Isabella's daughter was gone and Edward... Charles...

"Jake, they may come back?" she tried, reaching for my hand. She squeezed it and the action shook me from the past, from the reality of death.

"We have to... take her..." I forced the words out, gulping my fear. "Sorry" I told Maria and she gave me a weak smile. I got up and lifted Renesme's head gently, brushing her back carefully with my fingers. Her skin was cold and hard. Bloodless.

I removed the tubes and they fell to the ground, the blood that had been moving in them escaping and flooding the floor by Renesme's feet in a black puddle. I jumped back from this-not from disgust, but something as absurd as not wanting to taint her blood with the dirt from my shoes.

"Do we take the drum with her... blood?" Maria murmured.

I looked at the half filled drum; the blood looked like thick black soup. I wanted to hurl, I wanted to scream, I wanted to follow Lorraine's convoy and rip each of their heads from their shoulders but I also wanted Renesme alive.

"You have to be alive" I whispered, picking her up carefully. "Burn it" I told Maria.

"Excuse me?"  
"I said _burn_ it!" I growled, carrying Renesme's cold body in my arms. "The place... the blood... everything. We have to cover our traces at all times!"

She blinked at me in confusion.

"Next door, there is a man with a bad smoking habit" I said "He has a dog. He has oxygen tanks and a gas cooker... you are immortal. Embrace it. Burn this fucking place down!"

"Him... included?" she asked slowly.

"Casualties of living as he does, with an old temperamental dog and lighters all over the place. Vampires burn to nothing... we can hope that Lorraine will assume such, of a half vampire"

"But you are asking me to..."  
"Be part of the pack" I growled. "And do what is fucking necessary. That guy was dying and miserable, there is your humanity if you are so goddamned worried"

I had no compassion for him, more for Rudolph and that didn't bother me one bit.

The whole world could burn, in this moment.

Xx~xx~xX

"Jake, we can't do this right now!?" Embry hissed

"Are you seriously telling me that we can't save her?" I asked softly, watching him, daring him. He heaved once and shrugged apologetically, flipping his gaze to the outside, to the sound of worked up wolves.

"Jake, she has no pulse" he whispered. I hadn't realised I was shaking, I hadn't noticed that her body felt weak and cold in my arms, that she seemed so ridiculously broken and fragile in stillness. I looked down at her face; that ancient beauty that was so rare in the world of current, frozen and lonely on her face.

I hadn't realised so much, but most of all, I hadn't realised that I didn't care. I didn't care that I was crying, I was about to risk the safety of the whole pack if I stayed a second longer and she was dead.

But when had a still heart meant death to the Cullens?

That cold pain lodged itself in my heart again and my vision blurred with hot tears. I didn't understand this reality, were she wouldn't exist.

"Where is Charles?" I asked. My voice whipped and Embry recoiled, pursing his lips. "Where is Charles..." I asked him again.

"Leah and Seth are looking for both him and Katherine..." Embry said softly "Angela says they had been talking to the waitress with the..."  
"Boobs" Collin filled in sombrely.

"Yeah" Embry nodded "The moment they got here, they tracked her house so... that is where they should be"

"The Company is traipsing all over the place and a freaking red eyed vampire's been lurking in the shadows..."I whispered and Renesme's body shook further in my arms, something about its brokenness reminding me excruciatingly of Isabella's cliff diving experience.

How was going to tell Edward... or Blondie. How would they look at me, knowing I had failed to save Renesme... how would I look at myself. The memory of her skipping over the lawn, young and startling in her humanity hurt my mind, seared my heart...

I was shaking and this time, it was rage.

"Everyone is here!" Angela entered the room carrying bundled sheets in her arms. Her eyes were pale and round, her glasses missing from her face

"Moving Renesme would send alarm bells... even with the fire"  
"You wanted me to leave her there?" I cringed back when my voice broke and blubbered.

"It was the right thing to do, but still... you risked a lot" Angela said softly, crying with more control than I could master. I was suddenly afraid of seeing Charles-deathly so.

"I have tried contacting Dominic" Atka sighed "I can't get through to him. Leah says she has an old map of Malwood, we are ready to go, Alpha"

"Charles?" I whispered.

"Vampire shock" Angela knelt by me and brushed Renesme's cheek. "He asked for you"

I gulped.

"Jacob, get moving!" Leah entered the room, still dressing. "Charles killed Joham's child. We leave, now!"

"The fuck..." Collin breathed.

"Jake, Charles, Maria, Katherine and Angela will all go by road" Leah instructed. "We'll flank the highway as best as we can. Move!"

**Authors Note:**

**The 'vegetarian' lifestyle allowed the Cullen's better control; the same principle is applied to half vampires. Since she fed on so many humans, she had sort of fallen off the wagon and it isn't a thirst thing as much as it is more a reaction to being back on 'drugs' if you may. It would be worse for Nessie, because of her human side she would need sustenance on a more regular basis so she had the difficult task of getting of the 'drug'. Her wounds would be healed thanks to the feeding on humans on her way up from the hive.**

**Xx**

**TJ**


	5. The Road of No Return

**The Road of No Return**

**ANGELA WEBER**

**Xx~xx~xX**

The highway was sinister and soundless, trees erupting infrequently, buildings forming in through the shadows and at times, if there were woods thick enough and close enough to coddle the road; I could make out giant spectres rolling through gloom, herding the Jeep to unknown territories and daring any dangers to challenge them.

I was driving, a frozen Charles in shot gun and behind us Katherine and Maria sat jammed to one side, Jacob cradling Renesme's sheet-wrapped body in his large arms at the other side.

"How will we know what is happening outside?" I asked Jacob.

"We won't" he said softly.

"I don't know how I feel about that" I sighed.

"I trust no one better than Leah, when it comes to combat" Jacob breathed "And I wish you would understand the strength an imprint evokes in a pack"  
"I thought you felt it was a curse?"  
"I do" he whispered "It's a curse to the individual but its benefits to the pack are... immeasurable"

We were silent for a while, lost in our minds; I thought to tell him about Renesme's own sentiments on the imprint, how tragically lost as a rounded being she was...

"We have two imprints in the car" Jacob said "I have no doubt Seth and Leah are keeping everyone focused"  
"Leah doesn't behave like Seth?" I asked him. Katherine was fast asleep while Maria listened intently. Jacob didn't care; he wasn't worried about much except getting the pack to Malwood-so he could deal with Renesme and Charles more thoroughly.

"Well, wouldn't you say that Leah has it good; her imprint may have very well imprinted on her too" Jacob said evenly. "They feel on the same level. Its... fair like that"

"It's just... love" I sighed. I was badly inexperienced in the subject, and watching the supernatural go through the human emotion made me feel like a toddler. It changed my whole understanding of the emotion-an emotion that seemed so tangible and alive to them. As though love itself, were the heart; were the muscle pumping in their world, and one prick would see life end, and haemorrhage cheaply into the world.

Crimson wet ground and a loveless darkness.

"The kind of love an imprint allows a person is intoxicating" Jacob said dourly "Imagine having someone who would be and do anything for you? Whose happiness is so entirely tied with yours that they could never allow you to be in any form of discomfort; the thought of it would cause them pain, the act of it would hurt them..."

"Actual pain?"  
"Actual... heart wrenching... pain" Jacob said bitterly "You see, that's why the pack have little tolerance for Renesme. She knew all this... but she kept stabbing knives in his heart"

He paused and took in a sharp breath, correcting himself "Into _my _heart"

"Do you have tolerance for her, Jake?"  
"It's like being kidnapped" he whispered. "Imprinting on her was like being kidnapped, and when I was free... I still felt... something... a thing... nothing romantic, just..."  
"Connected" I whispered. "But she is dead now, Jake"  
"Connected, Angela" Jacob murmured. "_I'll_ tell _you_ when she is dead, not the other way around!"

We entered a large town and if it had not been for my knowledge of what a bounding polar bear looked like, I would have driven past the seedy looking motel. I parked the Jeep neatly in front of _Larry's Motel_, and waited patiently for the pack to reveal themselves.

Leah emerged from a dark corner of the building shortly, walking warily and stiffly towards us. Seth appeared too, and he over took her just as quickly, apprehension evident on his face. They were like two representatives of the imprint; what it should be, and what it was.

He reached the car, peeked at Charles side before moving to Katherine's door. He didn't open it, simply standing guard against it like a sentry. What was healthy about that? Nothing, absolutely nothing and yet I could see the appeal of having someone completely devoted to you in such a manner.

Charles on the other hand, had his door opened and the sharp chill of the outside disrupted his hair. Leah peeked at his face, frowning slightly before slamming his door angrily and moving to Jacob's door.

"He killed Joham's daughter!" she hissed the moment Jacob unwound the window. "Two human's left dead at that party, Seth's too busy in imprint mode to understand that my imprint saved his imprints life..."

"Honestly, I don't give a fuck about the sibling stuff... once again..." Jacob breathed. Leah looked down at the large bundle of Renesme in his arms, and then stared at the back of Charles head.

"I love Nessie" Leah's voice was hoarse, her eyes shining but no liquid fell out. "And I know precisely what she would have asked of me before she passed. In fact, she wouldn't have had to say it out loud; Charles, Katherine and Angela, I knew immediately when I found out"

My heart clenched and I looked away from the scene. Tears were in my eyes, in seconds they would be all over my jacket; the truth, hurt exquisitely. I had always been right; Renesme Cullen's heart, her love, had golden crimson in it.

"He saved Katherine. He saved _family_ at the expense of humans" Leah breathed "No regrets"  
"No regrets" Jacob agreed with her.

"But he broke the bitch's neck" Leah breathed "In front of a bunch of humans... then phased. That's how Seth found them... apparently a vampire had been there. I have no idea if it was Joham"  
"Good for Charles" Jacob growled. "I would give so much to break a couple of vampires... some humans... _one_ human..."

"She had asked for Angela" Leah said "Are you not seeing what this is? What this means?"

"Flora" I breathed, the faceless beauty that had disrupted my mind for _years_ coming into play. "He... killed... Flora?"  
"She could smell you on Charles" Leah said to me. "She was to retrieve you, Angela"  
"Not Maria?" Jacob breathed.

"Not... me?" Maria asked.

"Angela" Leah looked me dead in the eye. "So many vampires want you to be turned. Your interaction with the Cullens and Werewolves, your knowledge of the supernatural has made you the number one candidate for _venom_"

My blood froze.

"Charles saved Katherine's life" Leah said "And yours"

"We can't stay here" Jacob breathed, closing his eyes.

"Nope" Leah agreed, looking out to the car park in front of the motel. Three scantily dressed women were strutting up and down the front, eyeing the car. I knew that wasn't Leah's reason for denying us rest. "We stopped to get food and Atka is trying to reach Dominic, _again_. Dominic's last words to Atka had been that the map I had may lead us to Malwood... but not into it"  
"Not _into_ it?" Jake breathed. "Well, how does that help much if Joham is on our tails... or Lorraine... or the fucking FBI!?"

"Well, obviously Malwood aren't taking chances with this war" Leah sighed, leaning away from the car and stretching her long limbs. "There are more things in the shadows than wolves, polar bears, werewolves and vampires. Ten more minutes for you, then we move... Angela, try not to drive like an old woman?"  
"I am old" I said bitterly. "Safely so it seems"

She laughed a hollow sound that died in the air. "Joham wants you and Charles... Maria too. If nanotechnology can do what it does to vampires, imagine what genetics and bio machinery mean to these tyrants"  
"There is nothing special about me!" I hissed, slamming the steering wheel. She looked at my hand clenched on the steering wheel, amused. "Nothing at all!"

"We'll see" Leah whispered, moving away from the car and towards the prostitutes. She whistled at them and they flipped their hair in her direction, uninterested. In a second, she had completely disappeared into the shadows.

I agreed with Jacob; Leah Clearwater was a General, if Jacob Black was a King.

Xx~xx~xX

The drive out of the town was swift and silent. Katherine was out cold, Maria complaining occasionally that the young girl had a fever; neither Jacob nor I said anything on the matter. We were driving for so long, several hours in a direction that seemed to bring about more darkness; we didn't know where the moon was, how it was pushing poor Katherine's blood and mind.

Our only alarm on the unknown slumbering werewolf, was her imprint; a temperamental Seth, who had dented the bonnet during our last brief stop. I had expected Leah to do something on the matter, but she had taken Seth's bipolar anger at Charles in stride, an anger that mingled with a certain helpless gratitude that Charles had saved Katherine-somehow, I thought of the imprint between Katherine and Seth like a balloon.

One prick of Katherine's heart would be all it took to end Seth, unlike Charles and Leah who seemed to be bonded past such a trivial thing as _death_. Possibly, Jacob and Renesme's once strange imprint had connected them in such a manner too; possibly, death meant little in the face of such a kind of love.

I felt so alone. So impossibly alone and afraid; I didn't know love, I knew death so well now that it was a loving friend that I no longer feared and the devil was real. It was a strange thought, a strange sensation; but in the midst of the beauty and terror of the imprint, the misery of Renesme's cold lifeless body; I suddenly believed there was a true God... and a very real devil.

And unfortunately, he wasn't Isabella. He wasn't even Lorraine, or The Company...

Carlisle's cold black eyes flashed over my vision, the car swerving minutely.

"Angela" Jacob breathed. "I can drive if you are tired"  
"But I can't hold a dead body in my arms" my voice was tiny as I said this.

"I could drive?" Maria offered.

"You don't have a license" Jacob stated.

"How do you know that?" Maria frowned. "You... spied on me?"  
Jacob was silent.

"It's customary for the Cullens to do such things" I answered for him. I looked at him through the review mirror; he seemed withdrawn about the accusation, looking out the window with his brow furrowed and lower lip held firm. He reminded me of the time in the diner; he reminded me of our first moments of interactions... he reminded me of my brothers, that I didn't dare think on for too long.

He was a stubborn King. One that loved so freely, but seemed wary of being _in _love with the potency of the feeling in this supernatural world he was carved from. He was perfect for this darkness; he was light. He would have been perfect for Renesme's darkness if she had let him, if she had let him be as he is; a friend or whatever. She would have had the dark parts Isabella had collected through her vampirism and greed for immortality... Renesme would have had all those parts burnt to such a blistering bright inferno that the sun would be dimmed out.

"I haven't heard of Malwood before?"Maria said after a second.

"Neither have I" I told her.

"Have you?" Maria asked Jacob softly.

"No" his voice was stiff. "I haven't heard of a lot"

"We tried to research it with Atka and Leah" I said "All the information Leah had gathered had disappeared. Dominic did warn on how organised werewolf communities were. He says only the elders know the extent of their secrets. The majority of a werewolf community consists of humans, and they won't know that that is what they live in; the supernatural"  
"There are more?" Maria gasped.

"Yes" Jacob whispered. "But don't be afraid; the way Dominic is assures me that the werewolves who live like this are not like the ones from The Hive. They may not be as formidable, but inside Dominic there is less of a... rabid hunger or... maybe more of..."  
"Humanity?" Maria asked and Jacob let out a prickly sound.

"When werewolves turn... there is no _human_ left. Never try to approach one you know as a human, when it is in werewolf form" he said frigidly. "They are not like shape shifters, who merge their souls with their forms. A werewolf's soul seems to be on hiatus throughout that transformation. I don't even think they store themselves in a spirit realm like Taha Aki could. They just sort of drift dangerously in a blackness between worlds. That place must be so cold..."

"Spirit...?" I tried the word out.

"Leah told you our legends" Jacob said tersely, not willing to go down that path.

She had. Charles had mentioned something too; but it had been so interesting, so entirely implausible but the way Jacob spoke of it; he believed past the wolves of the tales.

"Speak of the devil..." Jacob sighed, leaning a little forward "Angela, stop by the side of the road"  
"Where?" I asked him, trying to scan the area.

"Look for a pair of yellow eyes" Jacob said, leaning back. In a second, I found them. Menacing things dangling in the night. A thrill ran up my spine, as it always did at the sight of the giant wolves or Atka; but it was the regal aura of them, witnessing something that had once been nothing more than fiction to me.

Nothing, like the fear looking at a werewolf.

I pulled up in front of her, for it had to be Leah... something in the glowing eyes was distinctly her. Behind her, there was dark movement. I flipped the lights to bright and made out a series of iridescent eyes blinking through a thick forest, trees so tightly knit they seemed to be a wall of wood lining the side of the road.

"Angela... I think Leah ran out of clothes" Jacob muttered.

"How does one...?"  
"Seth is being difficult" Jacob said mysteriously. I ruffled by Charles feet, opening the duffle back and taking out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I got out slowly, the night was freezing and made my way to the large lean wolf.

"Here?" I pushed the clothes out in front of me and Leah tilted her head to one side, inquisitively before looking at me closely. The wolf's lips did an odd movement, revealing a series of sharp, rather white daggers. I yelped, dropping the clothes and rushed back into the car, closing the door and locking it.

"Afraid of Lassie?" Jacob meant for it to be a joke, but it came out a statement. Maria laughed nervously instead.

"Wolves are large" she said, unabashedly watching Leah's phase.

"Have you noticed Jacob in wolf form?" I asked her, looking back at them. "Larger than Atka"

Leah walked to Jacob's side, as customary since our stops and he rolled his window down.

"We are here, boss" she said, her hot breath spanning in front of her. She signalled into the darkness, raising two fingers and in a second, a sharp hiss came from the forest and Seth and Embry walked out shirtless, a large polar bear behind them.

"Here where?" Jacob frowned out ahead of us.

"This, is the end of the road" Leah pointed in front. "Literally. The highway is cut off by the forest and a couple of miles behind, same thing goes. We have about a few miles of road and then we are trapped by trees once more"  
"Impossible!" Jacob hissed. "The road was straight, we didn't diverge...!"

"It just happened" Leah breathed peeking at Charles. "Has he said anything yet?"  
"Uh... no" I stuttered, pettily wishing Jacob would close his window. Leah and he could hear just fine with the thing closed. I looked at Charles and remembered the gaunt man who had come to live in my apartment once, a man who had been incapable of moving and had these all seeing green eyes...

He was not him, but it was there in his eyes.

"Did he... kill the vampire too?" I asked Leah.

"No" she said evenly "But he phased. Whatever they had pumped into his system at The Hive got burnt up, possibly. He will be fine. His mother died..." she looked at him again. "He killed someone that _bleeds_ in front of humans, who screamed monster at him..." she was silent for a moment, then reached her hand through Jacob's window and touched Charles hair "Superman" she chuckled furtively.

"Superman?" Jacob asked.

"He was all about Superman as a kid" she smiled sadly "He thought I was his Lois Lane..."

"Did he think he could fly around the moon?" Maria asked.

Everyone froze.

The woods were quiet, the sound of the idling car moving through that silence and above us, thick clouds hung, an iridescent glow escaping through them as they moved. Katherine moaned delicately in the back; I didn't dare look at her.

"Jake" Seth stood by Jacob's window, Embry had gone to lean imposingly by the bonnet while the white mass of Atka stood gloomily by the side of the road staring through nothingness.

"I see it" Jacob breathed.

"I don't think you do" Seth's lips twisted in a mean way.

"Renesme is dead in my arms, Charles is in shock and Katherine is about to turn" Jacob said calmly, looking at Seth's face closely. "Kid, I see it. Trust me"

"What do we do?" Embry came around to Jacob's side.

"We move through the woods" Jake said with the same calmness, something about it was resigned.

"The car will not go through that" my voice shook nervously.

"And Katherine...!" Maria cried.

"Katherine is not a problem!" Seth growled, hunching over Jake's window and half pushing his head through it. "She is _never_ a problem; not yours, or anyone. Do you understand me _little girl_?"

There was silence and I thought I saw a little knowing smile on Leah's lips.

"Seth, cool it" Jacob said after a minute. "Look, it's only Katherine. Half the pack can take care of her... the moon isn't a problem. The only problem here, Seth, is morning when your imprint wakes up confused and wants Renesme or Dominic"

Seth pulled his head out, not completely, and paled at the reminder of his unstable trust issues with Katherine. I looked back at a shivering Katherine, my body cold at the thought of a _soul _lingering for hours in a place neither tangible nor ethereal; a place, split between worlds that was so cold and dead. A light, floating there... alone and afraid, ripped to shreds by the unnaturalness of such an environment.

It made sense then, how the werewolves _always _were after the few days of transformation; broken wraiths so wary of everything. A community would know how to save such beings from tearing their tortured souls to nothing, after that. An imprint... could give so much warmth and love to a soul, and keep it from the reminder of such a pain, the reminder left only by the scabs that covered that psyche.

Werewolves without a community, without imprinters... were demons... agents to the devil; easily manipulated, easily converted to darkness.

'NGH!" Katherine's yelp shook everyone, sending Seth to her door and in a second, cold air flew into the car from her side.

"Katherine!?" Seth's hand was on her forehead, his eyes-large as they had already been-globes of white fear.

"Jacob!" Embry hissed, filling the space of Jacob's open window. He pointed up ahead, and in the middle of the highway, Annabelle Erikson stood holding a bright lamp and three men at her sides. Annabelle stared dead at us, apparently unaware of the large Polar Bear looming over her and her companions (who had begun to shake uncontrollably, looking back to the woods). She walked ahead of them, her rigidness hurt so much in its reminder of Renesme, and came to my side of the car.

"Dominic has organised men to lead you safely through..." she told me "He _begged_ me to be with them...You are not welcome, you see. When Dominic fell ill this morning, there was a dispute to cut the nightly scouts of the road and deny you entry into Malwood completely"

"So you came simply because Dominic asked you too?" Jacob asked in disbelief.

Annabelle's eyes flicked to mine. "Mostly" she turned around and called the men over. "These are Dominic's personal men. They normally see him safely to the Erikson Turning Cells. They know the woods and will lead us through them without any interaction with werewolves..."  
"If the werewolves do come upon us, Ms Erikson" the one man stammered, shaking his head "Best believe we will do as we have always been instructed..."  
"And run" Annabelle rolled her eyes. "Yes, you will... I know. Move the girl out of the car and take her to Dominic before the moon bears upon her fully..."  
"What..." Seth began and Leah coughed indicatively. "Right" Seth grumbled, lifting Katherine carefully out of the car "Right" he repeated.

"You cannot go with them, Seth" Annabelle said. "None of you are to be in the woods tonight. The werewolves are patrolling"

"Patrol...?" Jacob said in confusion but remained quiet. Seth handed Katherine to the one man unwillingly and followed the men a little way ahead, before letting out a loud shout in the darkness.

"I can't find them!" he came running back, flailing his hands. "I was right behind them, then I can't...!"  
"You are not of Malwood, not a werewolf" Annabelle said simply "And you have not been invited officially by _her_. Jacob, tell your men to move behind the car... I will sit with you"

Annabelle tugged her dark coat around her, looked through the trees wearily and entered the Jeep, taking up Katherine's seat. Jacob rolled up the window, holding Renesme's body closer. I wandered briefly if a half vampire could enter Malwood. I thought Jacob had the same worry, as though Renesme's body would disappear from the car once we were through and Maria would be left lost in the trees with roaming werewolves sniffing the air for her...

"It's late" Annabelle sighed "We were trudging through there for so long. I am not a proficient map reader"

"Is the lateness going to be a real... problem?" Maria whispered.

"Yes" Annabelle sighed heavily, leaning against the window and pursing her lips "I am missing _The Walking Dead_"

"The walk...?" I began, terrified and confused.

"It's a lovely show about death" Annabelle's voice had a little more life in it as she said this. "You might want to turn your lights off, Angela"

"What?" both Jacob and I said in unison.

"Turn your lights off" Annabelle said bored. "You are wasting time; at this rate I will miss _Iron Chef too!_"

I turned the headlights off.

"Cut the engine" Annabelle instructed. I did this too. There was disturbance outside, around the car and animal sounds rolled in the night. "Tell the wolves not to fear the dark, their sight will be returned when Malwood welcomes you..."

"Don't fear the darkness..." Jacob said a little loudly.

"Switch the car on, but keep the lights off" Annabelle said next. I did this too. "Drive forward" she sighed.

"We can't see shit!" Jacob hissed.

"What's in the sheets?" Annabelle asked calmly. Jacob remained quiet. "The same way I trust that's not a manikin bomb, is the same way you should trust me not to send you ramming in a tree. Besides, only Angela and I will be killed in such an instance... and I will not die before I watch my shows tonight!"

I inched the car forward.

"Those men in there don't want to be out here, Angela... so stop driving like an old woman..." Annabelle began.

"I am not that fucking old!" I cut her sharply, pressing my foot on the pedal and the car lurched forward. It went right for the trees my mind remembered in front of us, but hit nothing, the tires moving smoothly over gravel. I slammed the breaks, suddenly, breathing hard and the car lurched forward again-this time, from a wolf slamming into it unexpectedly from my sudden stop.

I switched the lights on, not waiting for this instruction. Inches from the car, a black SUV stood facing us, the driver and the man next to him staring at us in fear.

"You almost killed us" Annabelle sighed "Dead from a head on collision, in a forest filled with werewolves and such. Really?"

"I... uh..." I couldn't breathe. I watched the car reverse back, then make a U-turn and move carefully through the darkness.

"Follow the car" Annabelle said. "You'll be staying at the Estate"  
"Estate?" Maria asked.

"Yes" Annabelle said primly. "_Angela _and _Jacob_, I suppose his bundle too, will be staying at the Estate... _you_ can occupy the guest lodges"

"You are too kind" Maria said tonelessly.

"No" Annabelle breathed. "I really am not"

"That was sarcasm" Maria muttered.

"That _wasn't_..." Annabelle yawned.

Xx~xx~xX

X

x

**JACOB BLACK**_**.**_

Did I ever see myself here?

The opulence that Dominic's family lived in was very _Cullen_. We had arrived in the house, Angela and myself, with no greeting except from two of the Erikson's staff who had shown us to our rooms. The home was large, beautiful and empty. I could hear people behind the closed doors, activity and yet... there was an emptiness that filled the mind with an image of grey loneliness.

It reminded me of Dominic's eyes and misery. I wondered how he would have been, had he had my life instead of this; a small little house filled with warmth and laughter, a family that fought and loved so fearsomely.

"You realise that carrying _that_ around is weird?" Annabelle asked me, pointing at Renesme hidden beneath the sheet, held firmly in my arms. I hadn't replied her, and she had not asked further. She was a clever girl. She gave me one careful look and disappeared into the depths of the mansion.

"Jake... I agree with her" Angela said softly. "Your intentions terrify me"  
"You don't know my intentions" I kept my voice level.

"That's the scary part" she whispered, walking away and disappearing into her room. I watched her closely as she walked away; she was in a purple tracksuit jacket and orange pants, hideous colours together. She moved wearily and dejectedly; she had no _supernatural _in her to carry this weight with more strength.

I wondered if she would break one day? I couldn't bring her back, as I knew I could with Renesme. Her only journey back here, would be death; venom.

I entered my room, and it was as the house was; cold and beautiful. I placed her on the bed, removing the sheet carefully. She was an ivory statue, her hair seemed redder against the death of her skin. I pushed the strands out around her face, marvelling grimly how the colour of her hair looked lovely against the light green silken covers of the bed.

"You didn't kill that woman, did you?" I asked her. She remained gorgeous and silent; far removed from any resemblance with Isabella with her eyes closed. The little picture that had been by her feet was in my pocket; an antiquity of a Renesme that never existed, holding a baby-holding her father, in a time so far removed from our present.

"Silly girl" I sat on the bed and her body moved slightly. "You should have fed. I know it"

I could think of all the thoughts I would endure after I did what I was about to do.

I didn't care. Maria's disapproving gaze flashed over my vision; she could let her opinion be known, just fine... but only after I had exhausted all efforts in keeping my pack intact.

"Joham must have known all about you" I sighed. "He must know about me... he couldn't kill you because I wouldn't... couldn't let you out of my sights"

"Stupid silly girl" I sighed, touching her exposed calf. It was cold. I removed my hand; her skin was smooth and hard now...

So vampire.

Bloodless, and vampire. No smell of decay was on her at all, but her heart wouldn't beat. It had nothing to beat in it, did it? Undamaged heart, just... empty.

"Sam would turn in his grave" I laughed, looking at my wrist. "You know, your mother thought he liked her a bit. Bella was so delusional; only Emily and I liked her at all. Quil couldn't stand her, until it became fun for him to try and get into her pants. Embry... Embry was so shy it hurt just watching him stumble through life at times. Seth... sunshine kid. Look at him now, giving _everyone _grief!"

"Maybe you wondered how I had been... once?" I asked her "The last time I had been truly happy was before I phased. I was like Charles a lot, when he is irritating Leah; I never let up on something I wanted. The rabbit, Bella... punching Edward in the face. God, I was stupid... I shouldn't have come to her wedding!"

"Always so fucking stupid" I sighed, bringing my wrist to my mouth and biting. "And a bitch, evidently..." I laughed, looking at the crescent bruises of my teeth. I hadn't pierced the skin. I tried again, gnawing a little and flinching from the pain.

Throw a boulder at me, shoot at me... but don't make me bite myself?!

I surveyed my wrist. Blood oozed thickly out of it, as black as it could be; crimson darkness, supernaturally potent. I remembered her feeding Charles. It was the memory of that that had led me here, and the hypothesis that had stemmed from it too.

"Silly girl and stupid boy" I whispered to her, raising her head and bringing my wrist to her lips. The blood trickled and began to slow, the skin healing. "Fuck!" she wasn't doing anything, her heart was still... would I have to bite myself a thousand time? Jam something in my artery...

"Fuck...!" I began but then I jumped back as a white hand flashed over my hand; ivory stone over my hot russet, and the hand jammed my wrist to Renesme's mouth-that gave one long painful pull and greedy suck of blood.

In three seconds, she had let out one heavy gulp and moan, the sound of a restarting humming bird heart filling the room. Her teeth cut through my skin so painfully, sharply and her drag of my blood was so strong; vampire.

It hurt.

"You can stop...!" I hissed, feeling my bones creak under her grip. She was stronger than I was, if I was in my human form. "Fuck!" I pushed her away from me and stumbled over the bed, landing on the floor.

"AHhh!" her sultry moan filled the room. I peeked over the edge of the bed; she sat in the middle of the bed, licking her lips and sucking on her blood tainted fingers, the dress Angela had changed her in spotted with blood on the front. She looked down, her eyes met mine; dark and hungered, far from sated.

"Stop...!" I commanded but there was no conviction in my voice, it trembled and droned out; I was hypnotised by her eyes, a rabbit in the headlights... a human to a vampire. She moved to me, so fast and held me to her body, off of the ground and slammed me into the wall. I was startled into some form of submission, remembering much too late that there was no need for me to allow this.

She tried to latch on my throat, snarling at me when I pushed her face to the side, terrified of the pearly teeth hidden beneath her ruby lips.

"Renesme, fucking stop...!" I hissed, but she only hissed back at me, gaining strength and turning my head to the side, licking my neck with her cold tongue before piercing my skin with her teeth. She gulped twice, inhumanly large sucks of blood before pausing and turning my head to her, her eyes more lucid now.

"You are divine" she said hoarsely.

"You are fucked up!" I yelled at her.

"I'll... be... gentler" she said absently and tilted my head back and resumed her feeding. I allowed her a few more seconds, feeling my head lighten before I pushed her viciously from me. She flew across the room, looking at me bewildered the whole time before landing on the bed painfully. The thing broke, the twirling wooden headboard shook but did not fall over her pretty little demon head.

"Enough!" I hissed. She rose up and stalked me, licking her lips. "Seriously Bronze... that's all I am offering. Not even a fucking date and you get me..."I touched my neck, then realised she had ripped the shirt off "Half naked and bleeding all over the place for you?"

"I... uh... need... a little..." her fingers twitched up to me.

"No" I said sternly. She hadn't stopped moving towards me. "I swear, if you come at me... the next time you die, I'm letting them put you in a coffin!"

She was deaf, it seemed.

"_Walking Dead!_" I hissed, pushing her off of me. She tumbled back, confused. When she came at me again, pinning me back to the wall supernaturally fast... I head butted her. This seemed to knock her to reality.

"Bronze!" I hissed.

"Don't call me that" she sulked, rubbing her forehead in confusion.

"I'll go get you a hot meal from the Erikson's kitchen or something" I said slowly. "I suggest you clean up the mess while I'm gone..."  
"I haven't had enough blood" she whined.  
"Oh yes you have!" I breathed, pointing at her accusingly "You're alive and kicking, aren't you?"

I left her in the room, closing the door slowly and praying no wandering butler would think to check up on the guests. If I had been human, I would have been _very _dead right now.

"Mr Black?" a frail woman stood at the other end of the hallway, clutching her nightgown to her. "I heard sounds...?"  
"Uh..." I looked at the shut door hiding Renesme, then down at my naked torso. "Working out?"  
"Did you change into a giant wolf?" the woman-old enough to be my mother-giggled. This shocked me; I didn't think anyone but Dominic or Annabelle would know, in this house at least.

"My name is Anna Erikson" the woman smiled warmly "I am Dominic's mother and I am very pleased you kept my children safe, Mr Black"  
"Jacob" I said softly.

"Good Night, Mr Black" Anna Erikson had not heard me and shuffled back up the hallway, laughing to herself.


	6. The Perfect Art

**THE PERFECT ART**

**Xx~xx~xX**

**X**

**x**

**RENESME CARLIE CULLEN**

I had never died.

I was born into immortality, raised towards it and here I am. There had been no passage walked, no bright light at the end of a tunnel, no dark seduction enticing my soul. There had never been a time when my immortality needed proving either, save for the fact that I didn't age and illness was too rare to be considered.

I had never died... and this made me feel, newborn.

"You are going to eat that" he commanded pressing a towel to his neck and gingerly raising it up. The skin was smeared black ruby, crusted at some places and deliciously wet in others. I looked at the food he had brought. "Don't frown at it, eat it Bronze..."

"Don't call me that" I said. My voice was sulky and I hated that he brought that out of me.

"I'm taking a shower" he sighed resignedly giving me one last glance that revealed nothing of his thoughts except that I had tried his patience enough; consorting with a human, audaciously being an idiot and then carelessly dying...

Heavens, I had put him through hell and he was not going to be denied a shower after all of that...

He walked away and into the bathroom, switched on the shower and removed his pants. I heard him step into it-the shower would be blazing hot, just as he liked it-and just under the sound of the concentrated rain fall of hot water, he let out a heavy long sigh.

I wondered if he would be leaning against the tiling, his hands spread against the tiles and head hung under the water. That was how he would shower after a long day; stand like that for minutes before remembering his body had to be cleaned.

I looked at the food again; a sloppy burger. He had made this himself, I recognised him in the ridiculous excess of the burger. It was piled with things, the patty overlapping the bun and dripping oil and juices around it.

I looked back to the door, to the bathroom and listened to the water, remembered the trickling of his blood before I dragged it up from his heart and pulled it through his veins in one unforgiving _suck_.

"Fucking burger!" I yelled at the food and picked the plate up, tossing it across the room. It smashed against the wall, plate falling to the ground and the burger slid down the wall to join it. There was a brief pause of water from the bathroom and then it continued.

He wasn't entertaining me.

It really did feel like being born again; like I had been in a deep slumber in the warmth of my mother's womb, or coddled in heaven, maybe hidden in a nook of hell; and so suddenly snatched from that safety or security and flung into this reality once more.

I was not weak. I could understand the workings of what had happened to me easily; my own blood had been missing from my body, my heart held whatever was left but had been shocked into a standstill, my skin would lose warmth and with no blood in it, it would harden further; a form of defence against nature or the unnatural maybe; all that was human had been in the drum, after all.

In death, I would appear vampire. She should have burned my body to ash.

"You didn't like the burger?" Jacob asked exiting the bathroom in a towel, while harassing his hair into dryness. I scowled at him, sure to look at his face and turned my head sharply to glare safely at the oil and sauce smudge on the wall. "I really tried, you know"  
I knew he had and _that _and everything else made me suspicious of him.

I turned my body around and busied my eyes with other things while he dressed. His heart was raised slightly; I wasn't one of the pack, I was no Leah and a part of me wondered if he would have minded had it been Maria in this room. Silly thoughts considering I had just risen from the dead; but one should accept their silliness at times.

"This place is lovely" I said after a minute "Where are we?"  
"Malwood" he said going over to the dirtied wall. He was in cargo pants and a t-shirt, his hair still wet and dark skin silken. He hunkered by the plate and quietly scooped the shards up, food included.

"Oh, it would be nice to see this Dominic fellow properly" I said cordially, trying to hide my shame at my insolence. I wished he would say something mean about the plate being smashed and food wasted but he remained silent the whole time, discarding the contents in a little bin.

It was unnerving and maybe he didn't understand or remember the meaning of giving blood willingly, to a vampire. Or at least, how half vampires felt about it; he wasn't human. He wasn't a morsel or a walking blood bag.

Had he given Maria his blood? My heart thumped hard twice and for a second I thought it had stood still. Shocked into death, betrayed…

Betrayed? Funny thing to think I should feel, I had no grounds for such. I knew that… or did I… I fought to catch my thoughts, hold my emotions; his blood was not human, distinctly so and my brain buzzed with thoughts and ideas and scenarios…

"Full moon just started" Jacob wouldn't look at me, rustling through the dresser for something. "I doubt I'll be able to hold a meeting with him just yet. Annabelle said something about 'werewolves patrolling', so when its day time, I'm pretty sure he is knocked out somewhere"  
"Werewolves don't patrol!" I laughed. He cringed back at the loudness of my laughter while I blushed at how my nonchalance had taken a turn for weird; he wasn't a mind reader and I wasn't a bumbling human. There was nothing to be nervous about; he was _young_, didn't know the full sociology of vampires and thought of blood as simply as blood. He had permanent amnesia, he wouldn't know the meaning of his actions "They do nothing but kill!" I smiled.  
"And yet Raul commands them in South America albeit with the collars but similar principle?" he turned around and faced me, his expression serious. He was holding a brush over his head and pulling indifferently at his hair. He brushed his hair while pacing the room and I watched him, trying to overlap him with _my_ Jacob.

There were similarities, things I never noticed months ago; but they all came from the Jacob who had not been my husband. The one who still spoke to Leah, who went swimming with me in the lake...

My heart panged. I had hurt this man and every time he breathed I would remember and every time I breathed he wouldn't care for it.

"I had an interesting talk with Angela about this" he sat at the edge of the bed "These are creatures whose souls have nowhere to rest when they transform. I think in Malwood, the werewolves' souls rest in _Malwood._ This place is not operating in the same way as the outside world. This is no 'little town' and I am sure it never was, even when Leah had come here. The town is guarding its self, and its people and has only their interests at heart"

"J.K Rowling" I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes. "Are you listening to yourself?"  
"You just woke up from the dead" he turned his head, raising an eyebrow "I suggest you listen to me closely. We are not wanted here as it is so keep the pomposity to a minimum..."  
"I am not pompous"  
"Charles will be happy to see you… but I have told him a little later on" Jacob began putting on _shoes._ "You stay in here, do you hear me?"

"In here where?" I frowned looking around the room and he sighed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Renesme" he said sternly "I need to know you won't… _eat_ anyone. I mean…" he pointed at his healed neck "You had more than a whole person, I think"

"Your hearts beating a little faster now" I told him and his eyes widened. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. I wanted to clasp my mouth and _die _again but "Adrenaline" came out of my mouth next "It sweetens blood" I finished and _then_ the instruction to clasp my mouth with my hand was received by my body and I covered my mouth.

He swallowed, hand still awkwardly touching his neck and eyes round and in shock. He was staring right at me while I stared at the patch of neck hidden under his hand. Both our hearts were beating fast; my own thrumming one threatening to drown out the heavy strong sound of his heart beat.

"You aren't still…" he removed his hand and looked away from me, nervous… maybe disgusted and confused.

"I am not thirsty" I whispered. Would this be the part I told him the fascinating thing about his blood? That it didn't taste the same as I remembered? Maybe he had a condition and he needed to know, maybe… "Your blood tastes different"

I wasn't ready to tell him that. I clasped my mouth and he looked around the room as though my sanity had been misplaced somewhere and he sought to find it for me.

"You've had my blood before?" he asked slowly, now determinedly staring at the grease stained wall.

"A little" it was sort of true. "You had been bitten by a vampire" that was half a lie, I was half a human. "I only said it to alert you. Maybe you are… _sick_"  
"I feel fine" he said through gritted teeth "A little light headed and spooked, but fine"

"Spooked?"

"Weirded out" he explained.

"Oh"

"You won't need any blood, right?" he asked nervously "People around here will be… er, safe right…?"  
"I won't need blood in a while" I whispered and he nodded, visibly more relaxed.

"Uh, don't tell anyone about this" he pointed between the two of us "Just… you woke up"  
"Sure, sure"

"I have to go tell the guys not to go into the woods, even in the day time" he sighed, much brighter and relaxed now "I trust you not to… die again and eat anyone"  
"Like I assured you" I said stonily.

"Bye!" he practically ran out of the room. I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, the words 'spooked' and 'weirded out' flashing over my million thoughts.

Xx~xx~xX

I didn't stay in the room as _commanded_.

My shower had been relaxing up until I realised I had no clothes to wear. Jacob's clothes consisted of four t-shirts and two pairs of jeans and surprisingly five boxers. This made me nervous; _boxers_. How long had I been dead for…?

And were they bought before or after Maria had parasited herself into _my_ world.

I was in a quandary; my mind had somehow chosen this point in time to remember my Jacob so explicitly and to remember what it had meant to be _his. _Wearing his t-shirt would mean something but then again, I was over thinking it.

When was I not over thinking it?

The wolves would not confuse it at all; it would be a simple sign of disrespect on my part to their wonderfully delicious Alpha… I smelt his shirt and realised I couldn't wear it. It would be just long enough, I could use the belt on my dirty dress to tie it into a pseudo fashion piece… oh, I could have made it work but… something wasn't right.

I needed to stop thinking about Jacob, his blood and the past. I would never taste him again nor should I want to and it wasn't my fault he had turned sweeter over time. I needed to snap out of it.

"I need air" I sighed, wearing the dirty dress with the blood spots. I opened the door slowly and peeked out; the house was large, I could hear it but the wood and furnishings gave proof that it was also ancient. I closed the door carefully, aware of what my dress looked like and the fact that I was barefoot.

Along the passage, mounted in intervals were various portraits of men; young miserable looking men with far away gazes. It was a long wing, with many doors and at the end of it, there were two turns. I chose the left, feeling the cleaner air moving from it.

I had been in manors and castles but never a human one; never one that had the character of this one. Humans and their ability to decorate with _emotion_, as though it were a ruffle or vase that could be placed on a table; it was a lonely house, not from lacking inhabitants but warmth; and yet that coldness was still decidedly human once more. It was a separate cold, one that spoke; sorrows and regrets. Scandals and passion.

It was _his _portrait that halted my careful walk through the hallways; Dominic Erikson stared miserably at his painter. He was as pale as I had remembered seeing him, the lonely coldness of the house somehow radiating around his form. He was handsome and weak, nothing like the tall grim werewolves I knew off; neither Katherine nor him had that… hunger and cruelty that carried through the werewolf all the way to their human forms.

I could feel the man staring at me as I stared at Dominic, I had heard his approach.

"Dear…" he said, his voice rich and low. I turned sharply, expressing delicate surprise and fumbled with my hands.

"I apologize" I said immediately.

"You're a friend of… my son's?" he asked, walking over to me slowly. I saw Dominic in him immediately, but everything the werewolf gene had sapped out of Dominic was evident in his regal father. Dominic would have been an impressive man if his body and soul were not taxed so much…

He stood beside me and looked up.

"I noticed the years between Dominic's portrait and the last" I pointed at the one beside Dominic's gingerly.

"You understand art and style?" he asked not looking at me.

"Yes" I said "I studied it a bit"

"One hundred and… twenty or so" he squinted his eyes trying to remember "Let's put it at a hundred, shall we?"

"Hmm"

"There is normally only one werewolf at a time in a family's line… mine had two but I hear you lost the poor bastard" he said casually and I stiffened, but he wouldn't notice it. He pointed at the old worn painting beside Dominic's "That is my grandfather. Died as he looks, young and tired"

"My family… well, we have come a long way" he smiled "Dominic has come a long way… he looks… like he may not die as young and tired as he should"

"My name is Rene" I told him.

"Philip Erikson. You are very beautiful Rene and your beauty spreads light in this home" he smiled, his eyes twinkling. "I was hoping to speak with a Mr Black but it seems he has gone were I cannot follow; the cottages! Please, feel free to explore were the doors do open… and I hope to speak to you again, sweet Rene"

I watched him walk away, slightly disoriented by his presence. He was human and _not _a werewolf but at the same time he was _not _entirely _normal._ What were the limitations of being human in this world; a simple beating heart and fallibility to injury? If this town was what Jacob suspected it to be, then I would say that Philip Erikson was _no ordinary human._

Xx~xx~xX

Annabelle was not prepared to see me.

She looked around her in fright; I could tell she was praying for there to be another person, another distraction for me. It was an entirely human reaction I had seen countless times when I planned on feeding from a human to their death; it's in the eyes, Nahuel had told me.

Everything is in the eyes, for humans. You could speak straight to their hearts by simply gazing into their eyes; what Nahuel forgot was how we were half human and such a thing could happen to us to; such a thing could be done to each other.

I wasn't planning on feeding from her; the taste of Jacob's blood hung heavily on my tongue and the thought of any other taste tainting that (that silly burger for instance, that filled me with shame and warmth) was blasphemy right now. I dreaded to think how the 'cranks' of thirst would be bad when Jacob's blood was finally less in content than my own, in a few weeks.

I raised my hand, ignoring Annabelle's uneasiness and looked at the veins on the back of my hand. His blood was flowing in there, mingling with my own. I flexed my fingers and felt _strength._

"Renesme" Annabelle said finally. She sat like the princess I realised she was, perfectly poised and prim in the reading room, holding up a book on _ducks._

"The young and proper Ms Erikson" I smiled at her. She rose up and smoothed her dress, immediately reminding me how filthy I looked; how filthy I had looked in front of Philip! I felt like _Elizabeth_ except I had no sisters or the prospect of a _Mr Darcy_.

"We have never really spoken, you and I" she didn't smile back.

"No, but you did get to see me floating in a tank" I clasped my hands in front of me, attempting to hide the spots on my dress. "Good times"

"I was unaware you were here" she whispered.

"And now that you are, what will it mean to you" I asked softly, taking a step forward.

She looked around again, that little eye-dance that translated to a scream for help.

"You came with Jacob" she said slowly "You were with Jacob… in the sheets"

I blanched. "No!" she shrunk back, the windows wobbling at my outburst. "I mean… no" I said softer, feeling thoroughly uncivilised. "He slept on the chaise"

"I meant you were the manikin wrapped in sheets" Annabelle rolled her eyes, momentarily forgetting I could snap her neck in less than a second.

"He wrapped me in sheets?" I asked softly, forgetting my plea not to think of Jacob and being filled with the unsteady anger of a supernatural. "Were they cotton or linen?"  
"Oh, they were definitely worn cotton ones with little yellow daisies…" she said pursing her lips. I knew the ones; Angela had bought them back in Pebblestone and was strangely attached to them.

"Hmm" I couldn't speak, utterly admonished by Jacob's actions (my sheets were pure silk, why not wrap me in that?) and this satisfied Annabelle into ease.

I couldn't stop thinking on what would have happened had they found the bin bags… Oh, I bet if Maria had known were they are (it would require her accepting she isn't a house guest in our reality)…

"I saw your son" Annabelle resumed reading her book calmly "He looked like a statue yesterday but I hear he is all _movement _today. Must have everything to do with your own burst of animation?"  
"I am not used to humans like you" I said sitting down slowly on a cushy ottoman.

"In the spirit of our lovely time together in the laboratory…" she was flipping through pages too fast, nervous besides her cool and detached demeanour "I suggest you do nothing that suggests you _aren't _human or wolf whilst in Malwood. We just love a good vampire bon fire in these parts… and trust me, we would be able to hold one very easily"  
"Is that a threat?"  
"It's a fact…" she lowered the book "And friendly advice. There has never been a vampire here and there shouldn't be one. Do you understand? My brother invited you in here and it will be his head on the line"  
"Your father seemed nice and pleasant, it obviously isn't a family disposition"

She laughed, hard, as though I had said the funniest thing in the world.

"We should take a stroll to the ponds and feed the ducks in this lovely sunlight so Philip can see you more clearly from his office window…" she shut the book enthusiastically "And I'll tell you all about my conniving charming father"

"I may like you" I told her.

"I like your son" she told me. "It'll cancel each other out"

Goodness, I was dead for too long…

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**ITALY, **_**VOLTERRA **_

Littered all over the world are little cocoons of beauty, forced to stand in the midst of the ugliness that breathing creatures bring... breathing, or otherwise. How could we ever think ourselves so grand, when it was _men_ that had created such art, such splendour... these humans, and their minds.

Humans and their little souls, far superior to us in their sight and design of these cocoons. We didn't understand loveliness of this form; we understood the shadows that lived next to their little havens; we were like a peeping tom to their little souls, always envious and curious. In the shadows, was where we were.

In the shadows, was where we belonged.

"Do you think it possible they have missed our arrival?" Rosalie asked softly. We were seated in the depths of a little restaurant, cooling food in front of us and eyes hidden behind sunglasses even with the absence of sunlight.

"I don't know any longer" I told her honestly. "It is possible that they are wary; after all, Alice is a jailbird and Jasper is most ruthless about _his_ Alice. And Aro knows how I love my pixie, and would you have wanted to part from the little fashionista?"

"You suspect the fear of vengeance is what keeps them far from us, then?" Rosalie pursed her lips, readjusting her sunhat, tilting it to one side. "I do love vengeance"  
"I know, sister" I touched her hand briefly and smiled at her. "You are particularly good at it too"

"You and I know that Aro is too pompous to find such a little thing as vengeance threatening" Rose laughed after a minute "But it's a lovely possibility that I shall cherish until the revelation of their absence is upon us"

"Maybe they just don't give a damn about us anymore! We may have lost our _appeal..._" I laughed, looking over to the table Isabella sat at. She had unfortunately worn a hat similar to Rosalie's, and had placed it on her table, glaring at it in offence. As beautiful as she was, as much as venom had made her so close to dastardly perfection; she couldn't match Rosalie's ability to wield as frilly a thing as a _sunhat _like it were a tiara.

"They give a damn about _her_" Rosalie said seriously, removing her sunglasses and narrowing her eyes at Isabella. "Oh, if I were Jane... I would be dragging her through the streets, back to Aro and plucking away at her mahogany hair... strand by strand, continuously until she were bold for a few weeks"  
"Vengeance, is surely _your_ art!" I laughed but Isabella had not found Rosalie's morbid wit as entertaining as I had, and had turned her chair completely in the opposite direction so she wouldn't have to face us( civility on the situation was called, for I was unsure on how playful Rosalie was being, even from her thoughts).

"Sir?" the waiter stood stiffly by our table, trying to focus his eyes on my face and not Rosalie's dangerous beauty revealed as the sunhat and sunglasses were removed, blonde hair spread out about her like a lion's mane. "Is everything okay?"  
"A glass of water for me and a collection of your red wine for the lady" I smiled at him. "Bring a long list, my man, she has vengeful taste buds for red today"

He smiled and moved away from the table, his thoughts swirling with Rosalie's face and my voice. Little men, so artful with their creations; havens, monuments and nasty _nano-guns_... the reminder of the little bullets sent my mood into a dour spiral quickly, and Angela Weber had to remind me that humans... were human.

But maybe, that was all it took for such atrocious display of barbarism; one had simply to be human once, to know cruelty. Or was it that cruelty came first...

"You are frowning" Rosalie smiled, this time it was her who touched my hand "Is being nice to me so difficult?"  
"I haven't forgotten that today is your Royce day" I answered her hidden thoughts. "The day you died?"  
"The day I lived" she raised my hand and brought it to her cheek, rubbing it there gently. "We have come a long way, brother?"

"So long" I whispered, a little of my fear (I couldn't deny it, I feared the dithering mortals now) wilting away into obscurity as our past surfaced freely from so many seconds and minutes upon hours of immortal memory index.

"I thought you were an angel when I looked on your face, that first time when you and Carlisle had come to that gala" she laughed "Do you remember?"  
"More than you" I said, prodding my food with the fork. "I had been very vampire then while you had been annoyingly human..."  
"Spoilt and indulged" she sighed. "I hated how beautiful you were, and yet I stood mesmerised under that chandelier, watching you frown at all the girls as they gave you attention" she looked at me ruefully, pressing her lips together to keep from laughing at me "You know, I found myself jealous of the girls... not for being around you, but that they found _you_ fascinating! And I was so angry with myself for being pulled into such a similar lack of nous over a pompous boy!"

"I hadn't been paying too much attention to you then to note your thoughts" I smiled at her. "I do suppose you and I were very alike as humans"

"Unfortunately, you witnessed my weakness as a human... and subsequently forever more through your horrendous gift" she pouted, prodding her food in a similar fashion as I did mine; little flicks and jabs and occasional raising of the fork; the restaurant floor was expertly bombed with food as our plates depleted 'mysteriously' of contents.

"It is you that has a horrendous gift of knowing precisely how to annoy, dear sister"

"It comes from living with you for so long" she sighed. "Or is it dying with you? Being dead with you... regardless, we had our wildness and our fair share of boredom"  
"It had been so dire before Emmett joined us, hadn't it?" I laughed. "At least you were spared Carlisle's dithering infatuation for Esme..."

We were silent for a while, and I shared Rosalie's memory of our one fight over something so trivial as my placing my piano in the middle of the guest lounge (my argument had been we had no guests...ever), and Esme and Carlisle telling us to 'grow up or get married', in not so many words.

Rosalie had been livid; she was a new born, permanently spoilt in character and felt she was due more attention from me and had set the bar on that at 'worship and adoration, minimum requirements'. After all, she and I were wondrously beautiful, and on some days... she felt she was even more so.

I had exited the fight at the suggestion of a romance with Rosalie but it had not been enough; Rosalie was not satisfied with that victory. She wanted to see pain, some form of it, actual physical submission and not an 'exit'.

The piano had been broken, splintered and then set ablaze by my little garden. Esme had been upset with Rosalie, telling her of 'lady like conduct' and 'managing ones anger delicately'. Carlisle had found Rosalie amusing in her ability to keep me from brooding in the house; at times, I felt permanently evicted by her cruel teasing and it was this that had seen me take refuge in trees.

We had been an odd family then... and I realised, strangely human. Carlisle and Esme, they did that to us. They kept that humanness at the forefront. Now... we were lost, driven to fear by the discovery that our humanity was not what we thought it was; after all, the perfect lesson on the matter came from the humans.

And my, they dealt us a seminar on it.

"I miss them" Rosalie sighed, dropping her fork in misery and leaning on my arm. I wound it around her and brought her closer, watching Isabella. She could hear us, of course.

I hoped the remorse she _should_ feel would make her eyes bleed silver, one day... and then red, and then she would be human and perfectly barbaric.

"There is one theory on the Volturi ignoring us that I am considering" I said.

"What would that be?" Rose sighed resignedly.

"They don't want to be seen" I whispered. "These, are dangerous times for our kind... after all"

"Edward could be right" Isabella appeared by our table, proficiently ignoring the vision of me comforting Rosalie and pulling out a chair. She sat down languidly, sighing wearily and crossed her legs in front of her. "Or maybe, not all the Volturi are here? Or maybe we are sitting here reminiscing on our fabulous childhood and Jasper, Em and Alice have found counsel at the Towers?"

"If they have... Alice will call" I raised my phone off the table. "And if they have, and Alice can't call... it will mean nothing with you and I out here, Isabella. Aro loves to play civil, you know this"

"Oh, she knows exactly how Aro plays" Rosalie straightened up and dabbed her dry eyes gently. She was always so amusing in her 'little womanness' when she was a fearsome thing in truth.

"And after we do see them?" Isabella asked.

"We ask them for help on Carlisle" I said as calmly as I could, for I had been repeating that purpose to Isabella for the duration of our travel to Italy.

"Aro _will_ help" she smiled "But for himself. If Carlisle is found, he will be far removed from our coven and into the Guard... possibly, even replacing Marcus in the power soon after that. Carlisle's discovery and retrieval by the Volturi will do _no one_ any good"  
"I prefer an undying evil that's too lazy to continue with its itinerary than the toddler mortal one that's bouncing with enthusiasm to complete its cause!" I snapped.

"You _always_ know best" Isabella scowled.

"Much better than to send my daughter to Joham!" I hissed. "Or fall in love with my daughter's lovers...!"

"Now that would have been a perfect, fucking twist if you had...! It would have explained the honeymoon performance..." Isabella snarled.

"I got you pregnant in a week, and you gave birth in a few months...!" I laughed "I think my _performance _was exceptional... considering..."  
"Considering what?!"  
"Your _wide _vagina" I scoffed "You going to tell me it was horseriding that opened you up?"

"Probably wolf riding" Rosalie muttered, forgetting her chant not to get involved.  
"I could have had Jacob!" Isabella snarled. "I would have chosen him had you not _glittered_ all over the goddamned place!"

"You could have had Billy, too!" I laughed. "Then you could have been wheelchair riding too..."

"Er, humans... public... Volturi" Rosalie grumbled. "Could you do this some other time? As much as they have been missing in action, let's not give Jane another reason to smile beside the fact that we lost our father!"

"Some other time, then" I conceded as the water arrived, the waiter attending to Rosalie's wine choices.

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

She had named her son's from the bible. They were the only two with English names on their birth certificates in the village, and any other's had only received baptism names. This filled her with pride as well as the fact that John had travelled. John had gone into the world; into the big City!

John had come back, John had been damaged, John had almost lost his faith and John had forgotten the ways of their people. Only as a mother could, she knew, her son was scarred so deep it would never heal completely.

"He is weak" Peter growled, sharpening the stick rhythmically with his knife. He was scowling deeply, anger so long rested in his heart that it was explosive; she feared him, she feared Peter for John. "He is weak and broken; he has no faith. He will be useless on this expedition with the Englishman"

"You wanted the money, Peter" she whispered "We need the money" she hissed "We can't stay here… we are Christians and the man is a missionary is he not?"  
"He is" Peter scowled . "A priest in our village and he is not allowed to stay in our village! They kicked out a man of God…"

"Listen, I heard Kilpa's boy talking… he had taken some Australian explorers further" she took out a dirty cloth and opened it "I tried to draw a location…"

Peter looked over to her and frowned at the coordinates and scribblings "Eh…" he laughed "That's too far" he shook his head "Much too far. We take them to places we have been"  
"Kilpa's boy was there!" she said.

"No, he hasn't" Peter took another stick and began sharpening it "The savages have; Kilpa's a coward… bigger one than John"  
"John braved the City"  
"John feared the jungle!" Peter snarled, dark anger twisting in his heart so he gripped the spear mercilessly, and John walked in and met Peter's dark eyes, looked at the weapon pointed upward.

"I have heard… Kilpa and you are right; he heard it from the tribes lost in the jungle. He speaks their language" John told his brother softly, walking into the hut carefully. He sat down by his mother and hugged her briefly "We can't live like this, brother. Our mother deserves the life she had before father took her and brought her to this"  
"And why not bring that for her from your adventures?" Peter sneered.

"I was in hell, brother…" John shook his head "I saw… demons. Strange things"  
"Peter, you should take him to the priest!" their mother smiled "He can help you, I know he can!"

"I don't need a priest" John smiled, touching his neck scarred neck briefly "I need God himself"

"Coward" Peter resumed sharpening his sticks.

"Yes" John agreed, now touching the slanting scar on his wrist; a half followed through decision on leaving the earth.

"What were you doing there!?" Peter demanded.

"I worked… at a club… called _Help!_" John whispered.

**AUHTORS NOTE:**

**Just a quick flashback to They Set Out To Kill Fate; Help! was the name of the club owned by Joham, were Nessie was rescued from.**

**RESPONSES:**

**Nessie is not a full vampire; I sort of thought of half vampires in a Vampire Diaries sort of way. Basically, drain them they weaken… drain them too much, they go into a 'comma'. I realised that half vampires are a lot more fun than vampire vampires because well, they have a **_**special **_**need for blood and thus, a different understanding of it from vampires or humans. *hint***

**Malwood just interests me as this enchanted town; I did briefly post a new story based on it but I took it down as I hadn't thought of a plot fully. I will put that back up when inspired enough; to anyone interested in a story were Edward Cullen is still brooding but as a werewolf. Pairing would be Edward/Leah though. **

**Hahaha, eh Embry. Unfortunately, he is about to be up to no good again soon…**

**Hehehe…**

**Thoughts, suggestions, criticism… it always **_**Helps**_**!**

**See what I did there…**

**Xx**

**TJ**


	7. Holding on to the Past

**HOLDING ON TO THE PAST**

**X**

**Xx~xx~xX**

**X**

**x**

They sat in silence in the back seat of the SUV. Diane's mind twisted with Rene's face, with the sound of the young girl growling like a wild cat, the image of hunger shining in her eyes. She couldn't get over the beauty, the truth of the creature; immortal and exquisite.

She tried to quieten the feeling rising up from her heart; fear of what she had done in the name of immortality. She stilled the tornado with reminders of how _they_ were _evil_.

"This is how we survive, Diane" Lorraine said cut through their silence "We return evil with evil. These creatures do not understand things like _love_ and _kindness_…"

"She may have survived..." Diane whispered. "Rene could have survived"

"Do not fret" Lorraine sighed "The odds are against her... Joham has either found her body or finished her off by now" Lorraine paused, hacking in disgust "I'll let Joham deal with those _Cullen _vampires and when he has finished them; I'll retrieve his grand-offspring. She is after all, more human and thus far superior in sanctity. She can be rescued and rehabilitated…"

"The vampire…" Diane stammered "The vampire you showed me was wild. A demon. I don't know if I want to be like that"  
"You won't be like that" Lorraine smiled "You are one of a few humans who will utilise vampirism for the benefit of The Company"

"Yes but…"  
"If you don't want it any longer, I understand" Lorraine smiled "We can relocate you, give you a new identity and you can carry on as old as you are… as ordinarily dying as you are"

Diane remained silent, looking out her window. The glass was tinted but she could make out the outside world; street lights, buildings and unassuming people.

"Or you could be rewarded as promised" Lorraine said gently "And you will dance as you have never danced before. You will be beautiful, more than even that half demon"

She didn't mention the part were Diane's beauty would see her be a fully fledged fiend. It didn't matter, they needed evil to stop evil; they needed vampires to stop vampires.

"Won't it hurt?"

"Everyone knows that beauty and greatness requires _some _pain"

Diane shuddered, rethinking her contract with Lorraine. A piece of her heart ached; she had recognised herself in Rene and she was failing to deny it to herself. Had she not understood Rene's anger, misery and hope for love and acceptance? Did demons feel such things...?

Lorraine didn't give Diane a chance to drown her anticipation of the impossible in her growing conscious, retrieving her phone from her breast pocket and flipping it open, punching in numbers quickly before pressing it to her ear "The _good _Doctor Cullen" Lorraine laughed.

Diane watched as Lorraine nodded and laughed, responding to Doctor Cullen in a series of blush riddled answers.

She was beginning to realise she was in over her head.

"Carlisle" Lorraine said firmly, her mood shifting considerably "You _will_ stay in Peru. You _will_ be what you used to be for this purpose and you _will_ retrieve the artefact before either Raul or Joham discover its location… That is final!"

The phone was shut and with her face twisted in annoyance, Lorraine snarled "I prefer my _vampires _a little _less_ emotional!"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**JACOB BLACK**

"There is very little to understand, Mr Black..."

I didn't know how I felt about being called 'Mr Black'. Philip Erikson is an impressive man; from his age, his looks, his wealth to his aura... easily an Alpha, and maybe that's why I am suspicious of him. Leah says he is a sleaze, but she is compromised; any guy who finds her attractive and isn't Charles, is a sleaze.

This is messy. He is smiling and at ease because he knows that this is messy; messy for me, messy for my pack and messy for Renesme. We are at his mercy and I can't tell if he is sincere with his concern or nice about his cruelty.

"Our woods are sacred" he smiles, raising his whiskey glass and tilting it in the sunlight. It is much too early for him to be drinking, I am sure but it isn't my concern. The Erikson's strange family dynamics are not of my concern the same as I would not tolerate Philip Erikson instructing me on instructing my pack. "We have traditions, we have laws... and this, is something that has not occurred in Malwood in _years._"  
"By years you mean centuries?" Leah asked folding her arms over her chest. She is failing to hold her insolence inside her and it seeps out with each cock of her hips, each sultry sneer. He sees it, of course he does because Philip Erikson is an Alpha and one without _physical_ power; he relies on perception, he relies on his guile-he is dangerously cunning and that turns him into a disturbing ally.

"Leah" Philip smiles at her freely, finally taking a sip of his whiskey with his eyes glued to Leah. Hunger glints in them and I am grateful for Charles absence. Embry gives me an indicative look.

They don't know how strong we are, I want to tell him. He should not let Philip Erikson's cockiness irk his spirit. Our only strength was Dominic and we were in no position to get out of the town; Joham and his half vampires, Lorraine and her guns, Werewolves and their blood lust...

I had to be a little like Philip; cunning and shrewd, ever watching. Malwood was one big chess board and I wasn't certain what exactly was at stake, besides our lives but it was obvious there was more; why else would they let us in and continue with their meetings on us? They wanted something.

They _needed_ something from us...

"I have instructed my pack not to go into the woods until we can meet with the rest of the elders... as you requested" I say slowly and Philip's smile falters slightly. He takes a longer sip of his drink, watching me carefully before placing the glass down on his desk. He sits on the edge of the desk, folding his hands over his legs and tilting his had thoughtfully.

"I don't see why you _need _the woods?" he asks. He looks at Leah instead, gauging _her _reaction against my words.

"We are wolves" I say. He waits for more but I only look at him impassively, controlling my annoyance at these long games of his. We are wolves, we need the woods because we love them, we need the woods so we can run free and long and blend with nature; we need to phase because we become restless and aggravated when our spirits are contained for too long.

He wants to hear all of this but it's too much information for someone as cunning as he is.

"Yes, wolves and woods... it goes together doesn't it?" he asks through a sneer "I don't see how you are different from werewolves?"  
"Surely Dominic has explained it?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Dominic!" he says loudly, his voice thrown against the walls of his fancy office. His sneer deepens, his eyes darken and he raises his glass high, the edge glinting sharply in the light "A fine Erikson if ever there was!" he drinks, long and hard, gulping down the whiskey and flinching a little when he is done. Embry had been right; the man had been tipsy to begin with.

"He was wonderful last night..." Philip continues, his control now thread bare and wiliness drowned in whiskey "Just wonderful..." he finishes miserably, moving from the desk to throw his body in his chair. He glares at the empty glass, shaking his head none stop.

"We could illustrate our difference..." I tell him but I can't tell if he is listening "When we _finally _meet with the elders of Malwood to discuss our case"  
"Right now, the fucking elders of Malwood want to know what happened to Matthew Delong" Philip reaches under the desk and retrieves his bottle of whiskey. He opens it, and takes a sharp swig "How about you think about that for now... eh?"  
"Philip..."

"I will speak with you tonight" he says shortly "Your _wonderful_ Dominic will be well enough, I am certain. Good Day"

Xx~xx~xX

"We want to know how it is she is alive..."

"I am right here... why not ask me directly?" Renesme breathed "Oh, right... I am a half dead revived outcast to your idea of a perfect world. Well, Embry... the world isn't perfect. I may be the half dead outcast in your imperfect world... but _that_ doesn't make me the imperfection there!"

She sits by the window, like she always does no matter where we are; gazing through it with her indulged misery and twitching her every facial muscle to illustrate how much she doesn't want to be here...

The sun sifts through, spraying a yellowish orange over her hair and turning the thick bronze to blood. Her gaze flicks from whatever boring outside object to meet mine and my heart gives a pronounced beat; I see her hungered eyes, I feel her lips on my neck and remember the strange pleasurable pain of her pulling my blood through my veins.

"She is alive" Charles voice is low, his eyes dark and lips held firm. "That's what matters"

"Do you not want her alive, Em?" Charles asks with that intimidating calmness. He has taken a step towards Embry, and Billy has taken a step back. Leah is by the door, her arms folded over her chest and making no move to intercept whatever reckless thoughts her imprint is having...

She wants him to tear a new one into Embry. A part of me wants that too; the part of me that saved Renesme and fed her my blood... the confusing part of me that is disgusted with my self, charmed by the unnaturalness of what I have done...

"I am going to say what everyone else is thinking..." Embry huffed. I remained silent, trying not to let the little prickling his words caused rise up and fly out of my mouth but of course, this Embry... the one who wasn't a virgin and was a serial womanizer... he wasn't about to curl up and shut it. In his new bravado, I had to wonder if everyone _really _was having these thoughts. If they had always been there, festering and growing...

"And what is that?" Renesme demands with my exact words, without the snarl and all of the dead bored annoyance she manages to manufacture.

"How did she survive?" he speaks to me instead of her.

"Did you want her dead?" I asked him softly. The room isn't that large, the heat is stifling and their eyes are all on me. They feel like burning brown spotlights, sending accusations after accusations. I turn away from their gaze and meet hers. She is scared. They can't see it. She is hurt; she doesn't think _I _can see it. I wonder what she sees in my eyes...

Whatever it is doesn't comfort her, and she looks back out the window.

"I just don't get you" he whispered, frowning. "What is your move? She should go be with her family"

"Charles is here?" she says. I am afraid of opening my mouth. I don't feel like an Alpha right now... I feel like Jake, me... a kid. I don't want to be sitting at the head of the table; I want to go explore the woods with Maria like I had planned.

It feels like I have multiple personality disorder or something.

"Charles is one of us" Embry is looking right at me, they all are; they've had a parley, haven't they? I am paranoid... I need to phase... I can't _think_.  
"Seriously, Embry?" I asked eventually and he shook his head, still frowning. The confusion is heated up; I don't want them to know how I saved her, I don't want to talk about it-but that thing in me, that _Alpha _in me...

It just won't let me be a kid, it won't let me be hormonal teenager and rip through my human flesh and knock Embry back into yesterday.

"You used to say how everything bad that happened to us was because of leeches" Embry said softly.  
"Yeah but this isn't about leeches" I said.

"Maybe..." he looked at me from the corner of his eye. "I just... when you got back with her, at the old house... you were _crying_"

I blinked, dumbfounded. I could feel heat rising in my face and I didn't dare look at Renesme... or Maria, instead fixing my eyes on Charles quivering form and thinking hard to him to remain calm. Things were not how they should be and this, it felt like Philip Erikson was remote controlling a disaster scene.

"I know you Jake" he said "Better than you think I do... I was your best friend for a while, remember. I knew the real you before we phased unlike Leah or Seth..."

"Your point?"  
"It was fucking Bella all over again" he said quietly but the aggravation danced in his eyes. It coaxed me, it dared me and I had an option; deal with this like his Alpha or deal with it as Jake.

"It wasn't" Alpha won and I fixed every muscle in my face to indifference while my insides boiled with an unfamiliar chaos of emotions. I tried to make these feelings stand against what I had felt for Bella, what I had understood about friendships and connections. I failed, I was confused and that scared me.

I didn't know what was going on and it was happening fast; despite Malwood, or Lorraine and regardless of Joham-something was happening with me as a result of Renesme. It had been different when it had been her and I at the farm; now, there was the pack. Now, there was Maria. Now, I could see clearly that she had the whole world against her and that world wanted me to join them in ostracizing her and I couldn't...

The reason I couldn't was blurred, vague and difficult... and right now, something wasn't right. They wanted her out, gone from the safety of Malwood no matter what. And that in its self gave light that there was a darkness that had seeped into our family, into the pack; we were not cruel like this...

Or maybe, we never used to be? Maybe, over the years they had turned to this...

She wasn't my enemy and Embry was confused by that; he knew, he could sense it-Renesme Cullen was not hated by Jacob Black, even though she had ripped his heart out, thrown it on the floor and stomped on it.

He looked at me closely, taking a step forward and said "Yeah... it wasn't like Bella... maybe that was the problem"  
"You think my decisions are compromised by her?"

"Possibly" he said stiffly "Weighing the greater good of the whole against one individual. We won't survive long if we get expelled from this town without training sufficiently and gathering resources. Jacob, its Joham and its Lorraine... and they won't come at us alone"  
"I know that" I said. I wanted to hit him, punch him in the face and drag him across the ground by his tail. I could feel the wolf in me snarl softly, daring me to let a ripple through and give Philip Erikson the scenario he wanted in order to expel us from his property. "You want me to send her away, to tell her to leave and go to her family?"  
"Yes" he relaxed, misunderstanding my calmness.

"You want me to push her out of this safety..." I waved a hand around us at the cold beautiful interior, at the walls and all the way to the large expanse that was the Eriksons Estate.

He looked away. Seth shrunk back and Billy and Bradley drifted into themselves.

"You want me to send her out, whether or not Joham and Lorraine-who both want her dead or tortured-may be waiting on that cut off highway?" I asked quickly, rising from my seat and revelling in the fact that I was taller, larger and stronger by _far _to him. I growled low and he gulped.

"If you put it like that..." he whispered.

"_You_ fucking put it like that, Embry" I said. "You think that's what I should do... to prove to you that what, I am not imprinted to her? That I am not compromising the pack for Renesme Cullen?"

"She stays in there" he cocked his head back at the mansion "With you"

"And Angela"  
"In your room..." he breathed. "You took her body and you had it in your room. What did you do, Jacob?"  
"I kept Edward's child's body safe" I said "I kept Charles mother's body safe... and by the grace of forces we don't know about, she woke up"  
"I saw her at the pond that morning with Annabelle" he said. "There was blood on her dress. I got concerned you know, Annabelle sitting there..."  
"So you went over to say hi?" I guessed.

"Caught a whiff of the blood" he said stonily "It was yours"

I couldn't hide the agitation in time and he caught it, charging on.

"You fed her your blood"

"Embry..."  
"_Jacob_" he scowled in disgust "Still getting caught up in these _leeches_?"  
"It wasn't like that..." I whispered.

"Like what?" he asked "Like the last time it had happened?"  
"Last time?"  
"Oh, right... you can't _remember_" he said sarcastically "But she does. She knows... and maybe, you should ask her about it...eh?"

I looked to her but she wasn't sitting by the window sill any longer, the sun filters drawn three quarters open. "That has nothing to do with anything" I breathed.

"You take advantage of Jacob's leniency with the edict, Embry" Leah said "You've been allowed your parley and we have heard you..."  
"I am a beta too, Clearwater" Embry breathed "And before you forget it... there is the matter of lineage..."

"Get out" I told him "I've heard your words and concern but now... it's time for you to disappear for a few hours..."  
"Because Philip has _edicted _you?" Embry laughed.

"LEAVE!"

He walked away then, swinging his arms and I was sure, muttering a prayer for the death of all vampires.

"...before you all think of joining Embry's lack of respect" I said softly "Just think of this... if she is put on trial, we all will be put on trial"

"And Embry slept with my sister" Atka growled.

"And I killed Matthew Delong" I whispered.

"And Seth slept with a dozen girls I liked..." Collin muttered.

Xx~xx~xX

The pack was split. Leah didn't say much on Embry's words and I didn't expect her to say anything at all; Renesme was her imprint's mother and that would make her partial to my actions. It was built-in for a wolf to be disgusted by all things to do with the undead; I could remember the bile that rose inside me at the thought of a vampire, the indescribable rage at the thought of them killing innocents, spilling the blood of humans over the ground and quenching on it...

I could remember it. They could too, and maybe that was the problem; it was but a memory and the realisation that that was all we had to hold onto of our last life made us cling to those old traditions and feelings with a blind determination.

That was one way of looking at it... but the other way, the way that my gut kept leading me to was that these woods and Philip were against us and they suspected that with each second we didn't phase, we would bring ourselves into ruin and hand them over our souls...

It was another way of looking at it, an Alpha way... maybe, a Philip way.

"I don't know much about wolf politics but that looked pretty serious" Maria found me in the orchard. I was sitting under a small tree, legs pulled up and probably looking like a Chihuahua. I felt like one when I was away from the pack and alone with my thoughts; pathetic things, worries, memories and lack thereof memories.

Maria sat beside me, sighing softly and imitating my stance. She nudged me with her shoulder and I ignored her; she was a completely different set of confusion right now, one that was untainted by pasts or histories. Just... the normal uncertainty that was _attraction._ I had to think different and be different in each situation; Philip, the pack, Leah, Charles and Embry and the same thing now applied with Maria.

I had to worry about things like maturity and right or wrong, the best move for everyone... but not with one person... she did what she wanted most of the time, she had a knack for executing a plan but it was her eyes. It was always her eyes that showed how incredibly vulnerable she was.

"Jacob?" Maria touched my arm, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" I said. "Just... having a teenage moment after a gruelling meeting with Philip, Embry and obviously Seth, Bradley and Billy teaming up against me... and I have sworn not to phase and they are punishing me for making them not phase too"

"What's the big deal with Renesme?" her hand hadn't left my arm, her dark skin blending with mine. I liked this, the wolf liked this... I wondered if Maria liked it too, but I didn't have time to think further on the matter as the name Maria uttered rang in my mind in all its ridiculousness.

"They have never liked her" I said shortly.

"You liked her?"  
"I understand a lot more than they do" I said through a clenched jaw.

"Don't want to talk about it?" she asked. I remained silent and she sighed. "Okay, let's talk about the Erikson's big _Daddy Cool_. Is he going to assist us or what?"

"Yeah and no" I said "He can't _not _help us right now because he is unsure on our worth and power. I don't know their politics but there is a power struggle going on... something like there not being a distinct Alpha? Or too many Alphas' I suppose..." I thought about how Embry, Charles, Billy and I seemed to be taking the _none_ phasing a little harder than everyone else. Maybe it wasn't just an 'Alpha' thing, maybe it was just a matter of control... Embry didn't have the Alpha thing in him after all.

_No one knows that for certain!_ A voice, resembling Leah's, screeched in my head. It was the old Leah, the harder than rock and boiling like a volcano Leah.

"You saved Dominic" Maria said. "Didn't you?"  
"Leah practically kidnapped him" I chuckled "This can go two ways; we either saved Dominic and Annabelle or we are responsible for Matthew Delong's disappearance..."

"Matthew Delong?" she asked.

I remained silent for a moment, the feel of death being delivered by my jaws moving over my face.

"...Back in La Push, Sam had to deal with the tribe at every decision making process when things heated up with the vampires" I continued swiftly "I am guessing that's what's up here"

"Who is Sam...?"  
"You wouldn't know him even if I told you" I cut her. "Philip has to answer to someone and he doesn't like it one bit. All in all, I would say Dominic pulled some superior political attack against him and that was what got us in this town..."  
"So we owe Dominic a lot?" she asked, scooting closer to me. She leaned against my arm and rested her head on my shoulder, winding her arm through mine.

"Too much" I sighed.

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**CARLISLE CULLEN**

The coolness was deceptive. The tall trees reached high, wild vines wove through their branches and many tiny creatures moved over them. It was its own metropolitan; a city so wild and alien, the true first civilisation of the world and yet it was savagery to us. These insects, the animals… all savages to us."Father…" Kilpa called tentatively. "Your phone is ringing?"

"Bring it to me" I said softly.

The coolness was deceptive. The jungle was deceptive. Everything in the natural civilisation was a form of trickery, guarding itself against the true savages; us.

The emerald shade did little to shield those below from the hot sun, the heat filtering through leaves and large plants and spraying over the ground. I felt it on my skin; I felt its determination to pierce the coldness of marble flesh; the bugs, the heat and all of it fighting to push me out of the jungle. Nature trying her best to remove man's presence from her, because she knew what we were even if we did not know it ourselves.

Savages. Barbarians. Monsters.

"And I..." I smiled "A true demon"

The misery I felt acknowledging that was powerful and the acceptance of such a thing gave evidence that I would never be saved in the love of a family, of a woman… of a God. Salvation had long escaped me, my father had said; my birth had been through murder, I was a murderer.

"Lorraine" I looked at the caller i.d on the phone. Kilpa had long retreated to the safety he thought he had in his friends after handing me the phone. "Lorraine" I answered.

"The good Doctor Cullen" she responded in a giggle. "Or is it _Father _Cullen"

"Carlisle will do" I sighed, awaiting her instruction and preparing for her rebuke of my intention to leave this dark jungle.

Xx~xx~xX

The team of donors and missionaries are littered in the village. It is too easy to convince third world humans of my naturalness compared to the villagers, and arrival of the westerners here has worked perfectly with my purpose. They help with the immunisation, the education, while desperately trying to reach out to the tribes in the jungle; teach them of God and Forgiveness.

I play my part easily, because I had been that man once; the priest, the caring father substitute… it is easy to call on that. Easy but still painful.

"Father Carlisle…?" she calls gently. I see her easily from where I am, in the depths of the shadows of the rickety house, lost in memories and bound by thoughts. They mean nothing, all these reflections; I am set on my path. "Father Carlisle, are you in there? It is Sister Mary…"

"I am here" I say and she lets out a shaky breath

"Why are you in the dark, Father?"  
"Meditation"

She enters with the lamp held out in front of her, her eyes squinting and trying to catch the light of the flickering flame. I watch her and wonder; what are her thoughts, what does she think of me-young and beautiful and committed to a God; who is she?

And more importantly, _who has she been…_?

"Luke Wilson says you are going on a religious quest into the forbidden parts of the jungle…" she giggles a little, placing the lamp on the table. I knew her face easily and her shape, but the warm light of the lamp spraying over her casts her in shadows and hues that kindle my interest further; a reminder to an - element of my purpose in these jungles.

"A religious quest" I try the words out. I make no movement from my position by the window, seated in the bamboo chair. She pulls the stool from the table close and carries it with a little difficulty over to me and sits down stiffly. She looks around the room, those thoughts fleeting in her mind like pretty butterflies floating on a wayward breeze and I wonder what it would be like to hear them. I wonder, careless curiosity, how it truly is like for Edward to hear them all, each day.

My insides pang. I look away from Sister Mary and stare into the dark night, looking past it and all the way to the lively little village with its busy body people and inherited affinity to the supernatural. These humans are blessed to be able to see the strange, unlike the western world's ignorance to it.

"God is real to the western world" I say, not necessarily to Sister Mary… not necessarily to myself. I may be speaking to God himself, but deep down I know it's the Devil I consult with. "And yet the devil is but a mythical creature… and their inattention to his existence has given him strength beyond anything we could have ever imagined"

Xx~xx~xX

X

Xx~xx~xX

**EDWARD CULLEN**

The hotel room is dark, curtains drawn and light dimmed. The windows are open and a meagre breeze manages to occasionally push the thick curtains forward, swirling the scents of the room around and refreshing the air. The wallpaper is dark too, with a swirling design of leaves and gloomy flora. It's macabre and sultry and strangely appealing in the way it bewilders the mind from the fact that it is day time outside when in this little world, in the room of this hotel... everything seems to be perpetually thrown into night time darkness.

"I knew you'd appreciate it" Alice smiled. She is standing by the navy curtains, her fingers brushing the edge of the fabric occasionally as though she means to draw the curtains open. She doesn't mean to... because she believes we are being watched.

_We are being watched..._ her thoughts repeat and the image of Alec's face flashes over these thoughts, the images of familiar guard members and a dark cell, Aro's voice instructing her to book this room.

"You found them?" I ask her, leaving the door open for Rosalie and Isabella to enter. They follow, silently and shut the door. We are all here-the remainder of the coven, the last of the Cullen family.

"Yes... and no" Alice said moving from the window to stand in the middle of the room. She seems grave but there is hope in her thoughts. "They found us"

There was a sudden sound, a sound one does not expect and one that shocks... if one is a vampire. It was the sound of the toilet flushing. We all stared at the door to the toilet, a strange fear welling inside of us and the shame of acknowledging that fear; we were afraid of humans. We were afraid of _Lorraine's_ humans.

The door handle turned down and the door nudged open... "Edward" Aro walked out of the toilet, dressed distractingly _normal _and human. He held a bar of soap in his hand and did not bother to look up, instead staring intently at it "I tell you... who knew that a toilet experience could be made so enjoyable? They have all these perfumes and trinkets...!"

"Haven't you been in a toilet before?" Rosalie couldn't stop herself and I didn't blame her; in his twenty something gear and mussed long hair, Aro looked harmless and to those who knew him, ridiculously normal.

"Not in the last two hundred years" Aro said evenly "They always seemed so disgusting..." he pointed back at the toilet "Even when they were grand..."

This was bizarre.

"You must be wondering why I am here" he looked up at me, smirking and finally I recognised him. His eyes swivelled to a silent Isabella before falling back on my face.

"You read my mind" I said.

"I'd much rather read your thoughts" he pouted, walking over to me slowly. He held the soap out to me; it was green, almost transparent and had flecks of purple to it. "Smell it" he commanded.

I inhaled and he tutted.

"Humour me... and smell it like humans would?" he made his eyes large and sulked "You know... like how a _human_ Isabella would?"

I took the soap bar from him, careful not to touch his fingers and brought it up to my nose. "It's smells lovely" I told him.

"It smells like Carlisle's scent" he said seriously "Does it not?"

I recognised the juniper in the bar almost immediately as he said this and my insides clenched, every Cullen in the room tensing. "It does" I said.

"It does" he agreed, nodding his head and sitting down by the dresser. He picked a brush up, surveyed it with mild curiosity and began brushing his hair "How one can lose a vampire with in-depth knowledge on vampire anatomy and genetics to humans who want to eradicate vampires is beside me. I hope remembering Carlisle's scent will make tracking him and bringing him back much easier Edward"

"You know very well I need help..." I said through clenched teeth.

"Ask and it shall be given..." Aro said "Isn't that so, Isabella?"  
Had I still been in love with Isabella, Aro's thoughts would have sent me over the edge. Her face looking up at him, asking him... and of course, Aro's own request of Isabella; he grinned at me, an innocent smile.

I smiled back "Will you help us find our father? Will you assist in finding your lost friend?"

"Of course" he said and then looked around the room, at my siblings and lastly, at Isabella. "I can't help but notice how _rude _you have all been? No hand shake...?"  
"You will agree that in these times trusted words have more honour than stolen memories... lest we misunderstand each other?"

"Yes, of course" he turned around fully and clasped his hands in front of him. "In the spirit of full disclosure... I should tell you that we no longer reside in Volterra... fully"

"Why?" Isabella asked. They had all been quiet, allowing me to take the lead as the Coven Leader.

"Bella, have you not seen the new breed of humans that walk this earth?" Aro asked "Or were you too busy _fucking _Joham, double crossing me and reviving your marriage?"

She silenced.

"Anyway..." Aro rose flipped his hand impetuously at Isabella "These are hard times for the Volturi and my assistance to you, Alice... will be like I promised. Minimal. Our guard was weakened due to a sudden werewolf problem... Caius is seeing to that, naturally. There is a war and it is one that no one never anticipated, not even you, Alice. The war is coming upon our world and vampires are at a disadvantage. Do you know why, Isabella?"  
"No" she grumbled.

"Because some vampires run around making weak hybrids and defective vampires instead of parenting stronger vampires" at this, Aro's eyes swivelled to mine. "We are pathetically under populated and Jane has uncovered something. There is an immunisation that has been introduced to the humans by various governments to guard their sad healths against those nasty diseases and infections that kill them or worse, make them leak from the nose. That immunisation makes it ten times less likely for them to be turned into vampires..."  
"Lorraine?" I read his mind.

"She is a general in this war, Edward" Aro sighed. "But this goes much higher and far beyond your imaginations reach"  
"Then shed some mental light on it..." I said, frustrated by his cautious thoughts.

"There has been contact with a number of Coven heads on the matter of increasing our vampire population" Aro said. "None of that barbarism from the South..." he imitated Jasper's accent as he said this, giving Jasper an unsatisfied look "Scrutinise your selection..."

"I have not agreed to what you are saying...!" I hissed.

"You have no choice. It is officially the _second _law..." he sneered.

"And therein to we realise your generosity's purpose in lending us Jane...!" I hissed "He wants Carlisle for this purpose; Carlisle was conducting research on vampire talents...!"

"Not forgetting the fact that he is one of a few who finds it easy to turn a human" Aro added casually.

"There is nothing easy about it even for him" I snarled.

"I will give you Jane and her team and you will arrive in the safety of one of our allies territories...on one condition"  
"I thought the condition was that we allow you to take Carlisle?" Rosalie spat.

"Oh, you have no choice on the matter..." Aro smiled. "I am not the most trusting of vampires... but I trust Carlisle's idiotic compassion"  
"You are in for a surprise then" Isabella laughed cruelly.

"Your condition?" I pressed.

"There is rumour of a fallen star that landed in Peru millions of years ago" Aro said slowly. "A star that is lost in the jungle, deliberately camouflaged to vampires..."

"What about it?" Rosalie cut him.

"I want it"

"Uh, you just said its 'camouflaged to vampires'...?" Emmett frowned.

"You are resourceful and I'm sure you will find a way" Aro walked to the door, touching Isabella's cheek when he passed her. She cringed at his touch and he smiled. "Carlisle and the stone, Edward"  
"What do you want with a stone?"  
"To own it" he said softly, his thoughts guarded by a song on _clever telepaths._ "And save our kind from extinction"

Xx~xx~xX

X

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**REVIEWS ON YOUR THOUGHTS LIKES AND DISLIKES ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!**


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